Europa War II
by Vineman
Summary: Prequel to Invaders of Gallia, Experience the first adventure of the Raging Blast Alchemist and his friends as they defend their home from the Imperial threat.
1. Prologue

It was a beautiful and deceptively peaceful day in Gallia. On a hill not far from Randgriz, running into a pool of cold fresh water, was a small waterfall. A Gallian Military Uniform, a Dark red cloak, and a headband of the same color with a white, spiral shaped pattern drawn across it, lay on the ground, and under the waterfall, a man could be seen wearing only a blue pair of pants. His eyes were closed and his arms were at his side. Slowly, he rose them up and pressed them together in front of him, holding them up as though praying as he took a deep breath and exhaled it.

"There you are," a voice called from the shoreline catching the man's attention. He emerged from the waterfall and looked at the shore where a tall, handsome looking man with tidy, light brown hair stood clad in a Gallian military uniform.

"Faldio, what's up?" the man asked as he walked towards the shoreline.

"We just got word from headquarters," Faldio replied, "it's officially begun now."

"I see," the man replied as he pulled on the shirt of his uniform, "so… where did they strike first?"

"Hard to say. Dozens of small border villages fell to them within a few hours. I think the town of Bruhl was among the first at least," Faldio replied as the man pulled the cloak over his head and tied on the headband.

"I see. Figures, those towns would have been easy pickings since the regular army doesn't consider them important enough to garrison," Vine sighed.

"Thanks to local town watches, civilian casualties were kept low, but the town watches themselves suffered quite a few casualties," Faldio revealed, "it looks like Gallia's in for a long and difficult fight."

"Of course, we'd be fools to think otherwise," the man replied, cracking his knuckles and his neck as he did, "any word from the mother country?"

"Troops are on their way from Amestris already. They'll arrive in Randgriz in just a couple of days," Faldio replied, "no State Alchemists, though. Just regular soldiers."

"Guess we should be grateful for that, although something tells me the higher ups aren't going to see it that way."

"I honestly prefer it this way," Faldio replied, "I don't mind our alliance with Amestris that much, they don't bother us and we don't bother them except for supplying additional troops for the occasional border dispute and uprising…"

"If you're calling Ishval a simple uprising, I'm gonna dig a hole and bury you in it."

"Right, and the occasional civil war," Faldio quickly corrected himself.

"That's better. So, any word yet on what they're doing with you in the militia?"

"I got my orders just a little while ago," Faldio replied, "I've been promoted to Lieutenant and I'm going to be the squad leader of Squad 1 of the Militia."

"Is that right? Haven't even been in the Militia a day yet and they've already got you leading, huh? Someone sure has faith in you."

"I was top of my class in combat exercises in High School so I guess that makes me the best choice," Faldio replied.

"And he's humble too."

"So what about you? Any word yet on your orders?" Faldio replied.

"Not yet. I'm sure they'll decide where to stick me before too long though. Though I guess I'd better get back to base just in case I do happen to get a call," the man sighed, sounding rather disappointed.

"You'd better. It wouldn't make a very good impression if the mighty Raging Blast wasn't there when he got called in for his Squad assignment.

"Raging Blast? What the heck is that all about?"

"It's a bet I've got going on with a friend," Faldio replied, "I'm betting that when you're made a State Alchemist, your nickname is going to be the Raging Blast Alchemist."

"The Raging Blast Alchemist, huh?" the man asked as the two men started back towards Randgriz, "so what's the other guy betting on?"

"That you don't become a State Alchemist," was the reply.

"That figures. Well, at any rate, it doesn't matter right now. For now, I'll just be Corporal Vine, Unknown Squad of the Gallian Militia," Vine replied as he and Faldio continued towards Randgriz. Neither was aware of the adventures and battles, of the joys and the heartaches, that would greet them along the road that lay ahead.

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**EUROPA WAR II**


	2. Story of an Alchemist

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**EUROPA WAR II**

**Chapter 1**

**STORY OF AN ALCHEMIST**

Opening Theme: Asu e No Kizuna (Valkyria Chronicles)

My name is Vine, Corporal, Gallian Militia. I was born 27 years ago in the Gallian capital of Randgriz to Kazuna and Ichika Raymond. Raymond of course was an assumed name since as you know, Darcsens have lost their last names since times long past. The reason for the cover up was that my father was a close personal friend and advisor to Archduke Randgriz and his wife. Afraid that his Darcsen heritage would be considered a taint on the Randgriz family's pure Valkyrian heritage, my father suggested the cover up to prevent such a thing from happening. As a result, contrary to the image most people have had of me over the five years since I left Ishval, I led a surprisingly peaceful childhood for a Darcsen youth. For any youth, actually. To someone who didn't know me, I probably seemed like a regular, happy, Gallian child, but I had a secret that few knew. At the age of 8, I began to learn the Amestrian art of Alchemy, and as a result, my life would be changed forever…

**Vine: Age 11**

"Alright, I've got cotton for stuffing and soft wool for the outside. I hope this works," young Vine declared as he finished drawing his transmutation circle and placed a pile of fabric in the center. Walking back to the outside of the circle, he placed his hands flat on the circles outer line and took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing," he declared as a pulse of energy washed over the circle and into the material. The materials all merged together and began to change shape, forming into a small stuffed horse. "Yes, it worked!" he said proudly.

"What're you doing out here son?" Vine's father called from the house's doorway. Vine stood up and looked over to his father who was standing just outside.

"Just makin' some toys for the baby. I need some alchemy practice and the tyke needs things to play with. I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone," Vine replied holding up the sword.

"Well, you've certainly gained some talent these last few years," his father declared, "but I'm afraid I'll have to cut your training short. We need to head to castle Randgriz, now."

"Huh? Has something happened?" Vine asked.

"Actually, a couple of somethings," his father replied, "both your mother and Archduchess Randgriz have begun to give birth. Your new younger sibling and the new prince or princess of Gallia are going to be born on the same day."

"Huh? Wait, are you serious?" Vine asked, "Mom's having her baby? And so is Mrs. Randgriz? Whoa! That's incredible!" he shouted excitedly.

"Yes, it's very exciting, now get the lead out and move it kid, if that baby comes and we're not there, you're mother will kill us."

"Uhhhhh… yes sir," Vine replied fearfully as he followed his father.

….

Castle Randgriz was only a short ways away, but even so, we only just made it in time. That day, my mother gave birth to my first little sister, Karen. Less than half an hour later, the first princess of Gallia was born, Cordelia Gi Randgriz.

….

Vine stood near a small crib, watching over his new baby sister, completely unaware that someone else stood in the doorway, watching him.

"Vine," a man's voice called causing Vine to turn to the entrance to the new child's room. Standing in the doorway, was Archduke Randgriz.

"Uhhhh hi?" Vine replied awkwardly. This was the first time he'd ever spoken with Archduke Randgriz alone, even though his father had been friends with the ruler since before Vine was born. The young boy was uncertain of how to respond when speaking to royalty. "Uhh, my father is in with my mother right now if you're looking for him."

"That's alright, Vine. Your father is not the one I'm looking for right now. You are," the Archduke replied as he walked into the room.

"Uhhh… me?" Vine replied as the man sat down. Vine was surprised by how old the man seemed, despite being no older then Vine's father. That fact served to make this situation even stranger to the young boy. "Why?"

"Because the request I'm about to make, is one I can only make of you, Vine," the archduke replied, "it is the most important thing this old man can ask." Vine wasn't sure what was making him more nervous. The word important, or the fact that the ruler of Gallia would be asking such an important favor of an 11 year old boy.

"Uhh, okay, I guess," Vine replied, still a little nervous, "what do you want me to do?" The old man waited for what seemed like an eternity to young Vine before he stood up and walked to Karen's crib side.

"You have a new member of your family, Vine. Tell me, do you intend to be strong enough so you can protect her from those who might seek to harm her?" the Archduke suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Vine replied, confused by the question.

"You never know who might seek to cause your little sister harm, Vine. Are you prepared to protect her from any who do?" the Archduke asked.

"Of… of course I am. I won't let anything happen to my little sister," Vine replied.

"And how will you protect her when the time comes?" the Archduke asked.

"I'll… I'll use alchemy. I'll learn how to do more than just make toys for kids. I'll learn to fight, and one day I'll become a State Alchemist. When that happens, I'll be so strong no one will be able to hurt my sister. I'm going to become the strongest alchemist in all of Gallia," Vine revealed.

"Is that right? You sound as though you've been considering this for quite some time," the Archduke replied.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about ever since I found out I was getting a little brother or sister. If I'm going to be the eldest, then I've gotta be able to look after the younger ones. Dad always says that that's my job as the first born child."

"Your father is an intelligent man, and he's correct, Vine. It is your duty to protect those who are younger then you, and I can see in your eyes that you have the strength and determination to make that happen. This is why I'm asking you this most important question. I'm asking you… if you will care for my most valuable possession as you will your sister," the Archduke revealed, looking down at Vine with a serious look in his eyes.

"Your… most valuable possession?" Vine asked.

"Will you do this for me Vine? You are the only one I trust, more then any of my advisors, military leaders, or politicians, I need you to do this for me," Archduke Randgriz replied in an almost pleading tone. Vine knew then that he couldn't refuse.

"Sir… I… I swear… I swear on my Darcsen pride that I'll do it. Whatever you want me to protect, I'll protect it as fiercely as I will Karen. I promise," Vine declared firmly.

"You've been blessed with a resolve and determination of a level that far surpasses your short life time. That unshakable resolve is something you'll need that if Gallia is to have a future. The precious possession, the one that I'm entrusting to you to guard with your life… is my new daughter, Cordelia."

….

I couldn't believe my ears when Archduke Randgriz asked me if I'd be a guardian for his daughter Cordelia. I was 11 at the time, still a child myself, but even so, I agreed. As they were growing up, Karen and Cordelia were all but inseparable. So much so, that it was almost like having twin little sisters. I grew to love them both as such. As the years went by, I continued to hone my alchemical abilities and my physical capabilities until I could easily defeat anyone in Randgriz in a fight. I had heard rumors about a civil war raging in the mother country of Amestris, but it hadn't affected Gallia much, so I rarely paid attention to it, until one day, Amestris made an appeal to the Archduke to send Gallian volunteers to aid in the war effort. Eager to do whatever I could to stop the bloodshed, I signed up and prepared to depart… to an obscure corner of Amestris called Ishval.

….

**Vine: Age 21**

"Son, are you sure about this?" Vine's father asked, "this is not your war to fight." Vine's family had gathered at the train station where the Gallian volunteers had gathered to board trains to Amestris. Vine sighed. He was dressed in an official Gallian military uniform and was growing anxious.

"Maybe not, father, but that doesn't change the fact that I can do something about it. I can't just stand around doing nothing while innocent people are slaughtered. It's not right," Vine replied.

"I understand that son, but… don't forget that your race is not unfamiliar with the situation the Ishvalans are in. Can you, a Darcsen, go to war against them with a clear conscience?"

"Calm down Dad," Vine replied, "I know what the situation is. I'll be alright. I know what I've gotta do."

"Alright then, since I can't talk you out of it, then I guess there's nothing left, but to give you my blessing, my son," his father replied.

"When're you going to come home, Brother?" Karen cried as she wrapped her arms around her brother's waist. Vine knelt down and hugged his little sister.

"I'll be home before you know it," he declared, "you be good and take care of Mom and Dad while I'm gone, alright?" Karen nodded her head then squealed with laughter as her brother lifted her into the air. "That's my girl."

"Attention everyone, can I have your attention please," a loud voice called over the station radio. A man stood on a stage in the center of the military crowd, talking into a microphone. "The Randgriz royal family has come to bid you all good luck as you travel to represent Gallia in Amestris. The archduke himself would like to have a few words before you depart, so if you'd please give your attention," the man declared. Vine sighed as he put his sister down and stood up.

"Something wrong son?" his father asked.

"Who was that guy who made that announcement, Dad?" Vine replied.

"Huh? Oh, that's Maurits von Borg. He's the head of the Borg family and one of the Archdukes most trusted advisors," his father replied.

"Maurits von Borg," Vine repeated the name as though it were a vile swear word. He turned away from his father and stood silent for a moment. "If Archduke Randgriz is as smart a man as you believe him to be, he'd best be careful about that man."

"What do you mean, Son? The Borg family is one of the most respected and noble families in Gallia. They've had strong connections with the royal family for generations," his father replied.

"That's what worries me," Vine declared simply.

"Vine!" a young voice called, causing Vine to turn his attention back to where the Randgriz's were. Cordelia stood on the stage waving at Vine and Karen. Karen sighed as though she was embarrassed, but Vine just smiled and waved back. Cordelia's father smiled and whispered something to his daughter who stepped down off the stage and ran over to her friends.

"Cordelia, what are you doing?" Karen asked, "aren't you supposed to be up there with your daddy?"

"Daddy told me I could come and say good-bye," Cordelia replied sadly as she looked up at Vine, "are you really leaving, Vine?"

"Just for a little while, squirt. I'll be back before ya know it," Vine replied as he ruffled the girl's hair and smiled reassuringly.

"You'd better," Cordelia ordered, "will you still play with me when you come back?"

"Of course, don't worry about a thing. I'll be back before ya know it. I'll come see you the next time I'm in Randgriz, alright?"

"Alright, but remember, you promised, and that's not the only thing you promised," Cordelia declared.

"And I'll make good on that promise as well, but only after I become a certified State Alchemist," Vine replied giving her a thumbs up, "now, I need to get going. My train is leaving soon."

"Be careful Brother," Karen pleaded.

"Vine, make sure that no matter what happens, you must never forget who you are and who you represent. Make your country and your family proud," his father ordered.

"Got it, piece of cake," Vine replied.

"Don't forget your promise!" Cordelia shouted as Vine turned and began to walk away.

"I won't forget, I'll see you soon," Vine replied as he waved back at his family and friend.

….

I guess that breaking promises has always been a specialty of mine… even five years ago.

Ending Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)


	3. Story of an Alchemist II

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**EUROPA WAR II**

**Chapter 2**

**STORY OF AN ALCHEMIST (2)**

Opening Theme: Asu e No Kizuna (Valkyria Chronicles)

Ishval is a time in my life I'll certainly never forget. It was my first experience with war and I saw and learned more things in my year there than at any other time of my life. The war had been ravaging the Ishvalan's land for six years by then and the war was just entering its final year when I arrived, bright eyed and eager to do whatever I could to help stop the bloodshed. Yes, I'll never forget Ishval… no matter how hard I try.

**Vine: Age 22**

Vine walked through the streets of the small Ishvalan town that had just been devastated during the battle that had only ended an hour ago. He had been in Ishval for almost a full year and still couldn't comprehend what was happening to the country. He knew that Ishval had technically started the war, but he couldn't understand how their protest about the shooting of an Ishvallan child justified all this.

"I guess just slaughtering Darcsens isn't enough for people anymore," he sighed, "now the Ishvalans have to suffer too."

"There you are, Blast Alchemist," a voice shouted at him. He turned to see a young girl with shoulder length blonde hair, wearing a Gallian uniform standing behind him, smiling broadly.

"Nikki, will ya stop calling me 'Blast Alchemist'? My name is Vine. It's not that hard to remember," Vine replied.

"But Blast Alchemist sounds so cool!" Nikki exclaimed in reply, "so what're you doing out here?"

"Scouting the area," Vine replied.

"Oh? That doesn't sound like very much fun," Nikki replied, "come on, the fighting's done, we should do something fun. You should come play cards with me and some of the others."

"No thanks, I'm not much of a card player," Vine replied.

"Oh, fine. Well if you're not going then I'm not going either. I'll scout the area too," Nikki declared.

Vine sighed, "you have way to much energy, kid."

"I'm not a kid! I'll have you know, I'm 15 years old!" the girl shouted.

"Fifteen? Man, they just keep letting younger and younger kids join the army. I know fifteen is when you're allowed to join in Gallia, but that still seems awfully young to me," Vine sighed.

"You talk like you've been part of the army forever," Nikki declared.

"The last year has sure felt like forever," Vine replied, stopping suddenly and looking around, "do you hear that?" Nikki stopped too and listened for a moment before she heard a sound.

"It sounds like a woman crying," she replied looking towards a badly damaged building, "and it's coming from in there!" she exclaimed running towards the building.

"Be careful kid," Vine ordered as he followed, "it's still pretty dangerous around here."

The two Gallian soldiers entered the building cautiously and immediately saw the crying woman, kneeling over a small, frightened looking boy who was clutching the woman's dress. His leg was covered with blood. Both were Ishvalan.

"That boy's left leg looks like it's hurt pretty bad," Vine said calmly as he began to walk towards the boy and woman.

"Vine, be careful. It could be a trap!" Nikki exclaimed. This caught the woman's attention and she looked up at the two soldiers, her eyes wide with fright.

"S… stay away!" she pleaded as she tried to protect the child.

"Take it easy, we're not gonna hurt you," Vine declared, reaching to his belt and drawing his standard issue sidearm which he threw to the side, "see, I don't have a weapon. I'm here to help." The woman didn't seem entirely convinced, but she knew she had no choice if she wanted to save her son. Hesitantly she nodded and Vine approached and began to inspect the boy's leg.

"Looks like he caught a stray bullet during the fighting," Vine revealed after his inspection, "luckily, the wound isn't very deep. I can pull it out, but this is gonna hurt," he revealed as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small device filled with a glowing blue substance. "Don't worry, this is ragnaid. It's incredibly effective at closing bullet holes and cleaning out infections. I'm gonna apply it to your wound after I get the bullet out. It'll sting for a second, but it'll be worth it, alright?" Both child and mother still looked frightened but the child finally nodded.

"Alright, Nikki, hold his leg still for me," Vine declared as he began to work.

….

It didn't take long for the bullet to be removed and the wound cleaned and bandaged. Vine sighed with relief as he held up the bullet.

"I know the metal from these things are worth a good bit of money, but next time, try picking them up after the battle instead of trying to catch them yourself," Vine suggested. The boy looked a little confused by the statement, "sorry, I'm full of cheesy jokes."

"Not to interrupt, but I think we should probably move him outside. This building doesn't seem very stable so it might collapse any second!" Nikki shouted. Just as she said that, there was a loud cracking sound from above them.

"You had to say it," Vine declared as he quickly drew a transmutation circle in the ground. Several large stones began to fall towards the group, but Vine transmuted a thick stone shelter to protect them from the rocks before they hit. "Let's go!" he ordered as he picked up the child and led the mother and Nikki out of the building.

"Phew, that was fun!" Nikki shouted, "I gotta hang out with you more often."

"I'm glad someone feels that way," Vine replied, "I wasn't sure if we were gonna make it for a second there."

"Excuse me," the woman spoke up, "thank you, thank you so much for saving my son."

"Huh?" Vine replied, "oh right, don't mention it. All in a days work for me. My name is Vine by the way."

"Well well, what do we have here?" a male voice shouted suddenly. Vine and Nikki looked towards the source of the voice and saw a group of Gallian soldiers. A large man led them.

"Captain Damon?" Nikki asked, surprised to see the man.

"That woman and child. They're both Ishvalans, aren't they?" Damon demanded.

"Yes sir, just a woman and an injured child though. They're nothing to worry about," Vine replied.

"Quiet, Raymond, I don't recall asking you anything about whether or not we should worry about them," Damon replied angrily.

"And he wonders why I don't like him," Vine whispered to Nikki.

"I don't have time to be dealing with Ishvalan civilians," Damon declared, "put them both down."

"Come again?" Vine asked.

"You heard me," Damon replied, "take your gun and shoot these two. It'll be easier that way."

"Easier? How can you say that! They're just civilians, you can't…" Nikki began to protest.

"They're nothing but worthless Ishvalans," Damon replied, "you're doing them a favor, and don't you dare question my orders again, Private Collins. Now I won't say it again. Private Raymond, execute these two now."

"You and I both know that's not gonna happen, Damon, so why don't we just skip to the part where you yell at me for a while and then run away with your tail between your legs," Vine replied.

"What was that Raymond!" Damon demanded.

"I said I'm not gonna do it, Captain," Vine replied.

"You can't ignore my direct orders, Private. Now shoot these two Ishvalans or I promise you there will be consequences!" Damon shouted angrily.

"Don't care," Vine replied in an uncaring tone.

"Why you…!" Damon shouted, obviously getting flustered by Vine's lack of respect, "do you know who you're talking too?"

"Captain Georg Von Damon, Gallian Army, incompetent fool and royal, pompous, pain in the rear. Let me know if I missed something."

"Why you… I'll have your head for this! Private Collins, put these two dogs down. That's an order!"

"You can ignore that order Private Collins," another voice called from behind the Gallian soldiers. The Gallians turned to see that their Amestrian allies had caught up with them. At the head was…

"Mustang," Vine said, smiling triumphantly.

"The Flame Alchemist?" Damon exclaimed in dismay.

"I believe you have other things to attend to, Captain," Roy Mustang declared, "You hardly have time to concern yourself with two Ishvalan civilians."

"Grrr, this isn't over," Damon hissed at Vine.

"No, I think it is," Vine replied confidently as Damon left with his troops, "You know you didn't have to get involved. I had that under control."

"Mouthing off to Gallian Captains and Amestrian State Alchemists all in one day, you sure do love getting in trouble," Mustang replied sarcastically.

"So what's the news?" Vine inquired.

"I actually have some good news for a change," Mustang replied, "I'm supposed to deliver this to you." Reaching into his military jacket, he pulled out an official looking envelope.

"Don't tell me they're finally going to promote me," Vine said as he took the letter.

"I can't say. It's your mail," Mustang replied.

"Open it Vine! Open it!" Nikki pleaded, "maybe they're making you a Captain!"

"Promoted from Private straight to Captain? I don't think so, kid," Vine replied as he opened the envelope and looked over the note. "This can't be right… are you sure it's for me?"

"What's wrong, Vine? Aren't you getting promoted?" Nikki asked.

"No, I'm getting promoted," came the reply, though it hardly sounded pleased, "but… I'm also being recalled to Gallia."

"What!" Nikki basically shouted at the revelation.

"Recalled?" Mustang repeated, "does it say why?"

"No, but there is one other thing that's bugging me. The letter is addressed to Private Vine, not Private Raymond. It's written as a letter to a Darcsen soldier.

"But… I thought no one in the military knew you were a Darcsen," Nikki whispered.

"In order to keep Archduke Randgriz's image from suffering, my father has tirelessly worked to cover up our Darcsen heritage for as long as I can remember. I wonder what could have happened," Vine wondered.

"As for the recall notice, as much trouble as you've been getting into with your superior officers, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that it was Amestrian leadership that pushed for this transfer," Mustang revealed.

"When do you leave?" Nikki asked sadly.

"I'm supposed to report to the train station tomorrow, and from there… I'll be transported nonstop to Randgriz."

….

I didn't find out until a couple of years later what had happened. News that I was constantly in trouble with Captain Damon had reached Archduke Randgriz who had informed my father. In desperation, my father revealed his true heritage as a Darcsen. The uproar was fierce and almost instant. People all over Gallia were disgusted that Darcsens would have the gall to associate themselves with the Valkyrian Randgriz family. My family was stripped of their home and land and relocated by the archduke to a small town in central Gallia. I was seen as a disgrace to the Gallian military who were bravely serving in Ishval and was therefore recalled to Gallia. The last time I saw archduke Randgriz was when he discharged me from my 'honorable service' as a Corporal of the Gallian military. I didn't see him again before he died. I haven't seen Corde… the Princess since I left the train station to travel to Ishval. As soon as my dischargement was finished, I was taken to my new home in the town of Grenall where I was surprised to learn that while I was in Ishval, my mother had had another little girl, my baby sister, Lara. Thanks to my alchemical ability, I was able to quickly gain a job as a local repairman and the people, who were largely accepting of us despite us being Darcsens, came to trust my father for his reliability. My family and I thought we would be able to live their peacefully for many years. Then one night, all that changed.

**Ending Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)**


	4. Story of an Alchemist III

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**EUROPA WAR II**

**Chapter 3**

**STORY OF AN ALCHEMIST (3)**

Opening Theme: Asu e No Kizuna (Valkyria Chronicles)

Grenall was a small, peaceful town near Gallia's northern border. Life there was good for the short time I was there. Then one night, all that changed. I had heard of Darcsen hunts, but I'd never experienced one before. Grenall's Darcsen population was small and Darcsen hunters from the Empire or Federation had never come that far into Gallia. I guess we didn't count on those who were upset at my father's deception.

**Vine: Age 22**

"Thank you again for your help, Vine," an old woman said graciously as Vine walked out of her home.

"No problem Mrs. Withers," Vine replied, "just let me know if it starts acting up again."

"Of course, dear, Now how much do I owe you?" the sweet old lady asked.

"I'd have to say those cookies were more than payment enough. If you promise to make them every time I come over, then you don't owe me a dime," Vine replied smiling pleasantly.

"I can do that. Thank you again, Mr. Vine," the woman replied again.

"Uhh, just Vine. Mister is my father," Vine replied casually. Just then, a gunshot was heard from near the town border.

"What was that?" Mrs. Withers asked.

"I don't know," Vine replied, "stay inside Mrs. Withers, I'll go have a look," he declared as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his dark blue alchemy gloves. Pulling them over his hands, he headed in the direction of the gunshot. At the entrance of the town, 10 armed men were facing off with several of the townsfolk.

"Just get out of our way," the leader of the men ordered, "we only have business with the Darcsens. Move and you won't get hurt."

"Your kind aren't welcome here," an old man replied, "I'll only tell you once, leave now! We won't hand our fellow townspeople over to murderous scum like you."

"You better watch your tongue old man," another one of the group threatened, "you act like Darcsens are your fellow townspeople, then maybe you're as bad as they are. Maybe we oughta just kill all of you and be done with it."

"Spoken like true biggots," Vine declared as he walked to the front of the people of his town, "are you Imperials or are you with the Federation?" he demanded.

"We're from Randgriz. We got wind that a certain Darcsen was here and thought we'd do the world a favor and clean them all up while we were here," the leader declared as Vine took a good look at him. He was a tall, muscular built man smoking a large cigar.

"You know, those things'll kill you a lot faster than any gun. A lot more painfully, too," Vine declared pointing at the cigar, "of course if you don't leave now, you might not live that long."

"Did you just threaten us? You must wanna be the first to die," the man shouted angrily.

"Mr. Matthews, please clear the street. I don't think these men intend to leave peacefully. They're here for me, so I'll handle this by myself," Vine declared.

"Alright, Vine, but be careful," the old man from before replied.

"Ah don't worry. Ten against one is hardly a fair fight," Vine replied as he started to walk towards the man.

"Hey boss, look at the markings on his headband. He's a stinking dark hair

"Yeah, I saw that. I wish they'd all make it this easy," the boss replied as he rose his gun to fire. Suddenly, a red light shot into the barrel of his gun, causing it to explode and blow chunks of metal into the man's face and body. He dropped to the ground, crying with pain as he held his hands to his face.

"Boss!" the other men shouted as they gathered around their injured boss.

"Turning your backs on me is a fatal mistake," Vine declared, charging at them. One of them turned and pointed his gun, only to have his arm grabbed and twisted by Vine, forcing him to release his gun as Vine elbowed him in the face and knocked him to his back. Another tried only to have his gun knocked to the side, opening him up for a knee to the gut and an elbow to the back of the head, knocking him down as well. The other seven, finally realizing what was happening, all turned on Vine, trying to take him down. By now, he was to close for them to use their guns, so they attacked him head on. This proved to be a mistake, as Vine easily disarmed and took down all seven. Dusting himself off, he quickly gathered the ten guns and used his gloves to transmute them all into one lump of steel.

"Well, that's that. Do yourselves a favor and go home. You might not fare so well next time, so I wouldn't come back if I were you," Vine ordered as he stepped down on the leaders chest, "got that?"

"Yeah, I got it," the man replied, "we'll leave, alright. Just… no more."

"Good, looks like you're smarter then you look, now, I…" Vine began but stopped as a gun shot rang out. His eyes widened with horror when he realized the shot came from in the town. "There was another one!" he cursed glaring down at the man.

"Hey wait, I swear, I don't know anything about any other guys. I swear, please, don't…"

"If you still want to leave alive, I'd advise you not be here when I come back," Vine threatened as he headed towards the gunshot.

….

A second gunshot allowed Vine to track down the exact location of the gunshots. His eyes widened with horror as he realized the shots were being fired… inside his own home. Panic took hold as he burst through the door. Karen was sitting against Lara's cradle, a terrified look in her eyes as a man stood nearby. Vine saw in dismay that he was standing over his mother and father. The man pointed his gun down at his mother and fired off a shot before turning his attention to Karen, raising the gun to point it at the girl. He wasn't able to pull the trigger, however, as a red blast suddenly cut through both the gun and his hand, blowing both away. The man yelled with pain as he grabbed at the wrist where his hand used to be. He didn't suffer long however, as Vine lunged forward and stabbed with a knife he had transmuted from metals on the door. The man fell instantly, the knife protruding from his heart. Vine stared down in dumbstruck horror at the man whose blood he had just spilt.

"B… brother…" Karen whined.

"Karen, are you and Lara alright?" he asked, pulling his little sister close. He was relieved when Lara began to cry.

"Are Mommy and Daddy okay?" Karen cried as Vine looked back at his parents. He knew already that they weren't.

….

A few days later, Vine and Karen stood at the edge of town, Karen was holding Lara while Vine loaded the last of three suitcases onto a small cart he'd built using his alchemy over the last few days.

"Your parent's bodies are barely in the ground. Shouldn't you wait here awhile longer?" a voice called from behind Vine. Vine turned to see that it was the old man who had stood up to the hunters when they first arrived, Mr. Matthews.

"No, we can't stay. What happened has made it clear that we'll only be putting the people here in danger," Vine replied, "and besides that… the only people who knew my father was here are the Randgriz family and the people of this town. So, how did those hunters find us?"

"Do you think that someone in town sold you out?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"Whether it was the Archduke or somewhere here, I need to get my sisters somewhere where no one knows where they'll be. That's the only way I can be certain they'll be safe," Vine replied.

"I see, I understand, but where will you go?" the old man inquired as Vine finished packing and loaded his sisters into the cart.

"I don't know yet," Vine replied, "I'll figure that out as I go. I doubt I'll be back, but… thank you for letting my family stay here as long as they have. I'm sorry for the trouble we've caused."

"You were no trouble at all," the man declared as he reached out his hand, "we were glad to have you. I'm sorry it had to end like this." Vine hesitated for a moment, then reached out his own hand. The older and younger man shook hands before Vine turned, grabbed the handle of the cart, and began to walk. Karen was watching the town fade from view until she couldn't see it anymore. As for Vine, he didn't look back. He knew he could have very well shaken hands with the man responsible for his parent's murder.

….

Mr. Matthews went straight to his home after seeing Vine and his siblings off. There was a man waiting for him when he arrived.

"You did pretty well, Mr. Matthews. My employers would have preferred the entire family have been killed, but he supposes the children are really no threat to him. Our deal was that you give us the father, I suppose you held up your end of the deal," the man declared as Mr. Matthews looked away from him.

"I did what I had to do in order to save my town. Just leave what you owe and leave," he replied shamefully.

"Of course, the money for your town," the man replied as he reached into his coat pocket and dropped a large sack of gold on the table of the house. "Here you go, sir. Tell your people that Prime Minister Borg sends his consolation for their loss," he said, smiling wickedly as he walked out the door.

**Ending Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)**


	5. Squad 7

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**EUROPA WAR II**

**Chapter 4**

**SQUAD 7**

**Opening Theme: Melissa (Fullmetal Alchemist)**

Well, there you have it. The story of my life so far. I told old man Mathews I didn't know where we were going, but I may have been lying. We headed south to the town of Renole where my Blast Alchemy mentor, a former state alchemist named Lierra who I had met in Ishval, lived. Her State Alchemist license was revoked when a bullet severed her spinal cord in Ishval and paralyzed her legs, confining her to a wheel chair, however, during the war, she was the woman who first taught me blast alchemy. I had contacted her and she had agreed to care for and protect my little sisters and they still live with her to this day. As for me, I set out on a long journey, training with a single purpose in mind. Perfecting my alchemy and becoming a State Alchemist so that I would have the power to protect those who were dear to me.

….

**Present Day**

Vine sighed deeply as he approached the office of the Captain in charge of his militia regiment.

"Captain Eleanor Varrot, huh? Well, this should be interesting," he declared as he reached the door, "wonder where she'll stick me. Moment of truth, I guess," he whispered to himself as he walked into the room. "Corporal Vine, reporting for duty, ma'am."

"Come in Corporal," the woman replied. She had dark colored hair that was tied in a bun on the back of her head and wore the usual Gallian uniform. She was looking out the window of her office at the base below but turned to Vine as he entered. So, your Corporal, Vine, was it?" she asked as she sat back down at her desk.

"Uhh… yes ma'am," Vine replied.

"I see, my reports on you say you served in Ishval for a while before you were released from the military, is that correct?" Eleanor continued.

"Yes ma'am."

"And now here you are, 5 years later, signing back up for the militia. I'm also told you're an alchemist. Is that true?"

"Yes ma'am."

"You certainly don't hesitate to tell people. You know, a lot of people in the military dislike alchemists. In their minds, they can't differentiate between an alchemist and and Amestrian. On top of that, you're also a Darcsen. You know that joining the militia, you're likely painting a target on your back, I hope."

"With all do respect ma'am," Vine replied, his voice only showing a small amount of annoyance, "I'm here to do a job, not win a popularity contest. What people think of me is their own problem, but I promise I won't be causing any trouble."

"Is that so? Well, I guess for now I'll just have to take your word for it," Captain Varrot replied, "I'm assigning you to Squad 7 of the Third Regiment. You'll be under the command of 2nd Lieutenant Welkin Gunther and Sergeant Alicia Melchiott. They're both fairly new. They only joined the militia a short while ago, so I'm going to be counting on you to show them the ropes, is that clear."

"uhh… yes ma'am," Vine replied hesitantly.

"Good. Now, your squad is about to take part in an operation in a small town to the west of here, so I'd advise hurrying to your squad's briefing room for your instructions," Captain Varrot declared, "you're dismissed."

"Understood, ma'am," Vine declared as he left, "huh, that was quicker than I thought it would be."

"An alchemist," Captain Varrot said quietly as the man left, "he won't have to start trouble. Around here, it'll find him easily enough."

….

Vine moved as quickly as he could, but his squad had already all gathered at the briefing room before he arrived. He tried to sneak in quietly, but it was little use as the commanding officer spotted him as soon as he walked in.

"Oh, looks like we have one more," he said, "come in, we're about to start." He was a surprisingly young man for being in a position of command, possibly even a little younger then Vine was, and he wore a traditional military uniform with a military hat covering over his short, brown hair. Standing next to him was a lovely young woman whose brown hair was tied in two pony tails under a red bandana. Vine assumed they were Welkin Gunther and Alicia Melchiott. The other squad members quickly turned their eyes on them, making Vine suddenly very nervous.

"Uhhhh, sorry, I got a little lost," Vine replied nervously as he quickly fell into line with the squad, wishing they'd stop looking at him.

"Great, another dark hair," one woman whose brown hair was tied in two buns on either side of her head, "that makes five now."

"Alright, everyone listen," Welkin ordered, "our mission is to secure a town to the west of Randgriz. It's a fairly small town with only a small force of imperial soldiers, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem, but…"

"We're taking a small, out of the way town from a small group of Imps?" the girl from before snapped suddenly, "what's the point? That town can't have any strategic value."

"I'm not sure what the reasons are, but those are the orders, Rosie," Welkin replied, "I'm sure the military has a reason."

"It's likely they're testing us. Unless I'm mistaken, this squad was just formed under two inexperienced commanders," Vine declared calmly, "there's really no better way to turn inexperienced commanders into competent ones then by having them get a few easy victories under their belt. This is actually a surprisingly smart move for our top brass."

"Who asked you, Dark Hair?" Rosie demanded angrily as she glared at Vine.

"You asked a question, I gave you an answer. A simple thank you would have sufficed. By the way, my name is Vine. It's only 4 letters, so it shouldn't be too hard to remember, Ms. Rosie."

"Well well, this dark hair's got a pretty sharp tongue," a larger man with short, dark hair and a dark beard declared, glaring at Vine angrily.

"Oh boy, two members of our squad who can't even keep track of a 4 letter word. It's gonna be a long war," Vine moaned.

"Alright now, everyone," Welkin spoke up, "can't we at least try to get along? Now listen up, this is our first mission together, so I've got a question for you. I want to know what you think is the most important thing a squad needs to be successful in battle."

"The most important thing a squad needs to be successful?" Vine repeated quietly as many of the squad mates around him exchanged curious looks.

"That's easy," Rosie declared, "in order for a squad to be successful, it needs to have good, well trained soldiers who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty."

"No, soldiers are important, but they have to have the experience to know what to do with the training once they're on the field," the larger man declared, "all the training in the world won't help you if you don't know what to do on the field."

_So one values experience and the other hardened soldiers, I wonder what those two think of our new commander, _Vine thought to himself.

"Those are both good answers, and you could definitely make a strong argument for either, but I don't know if I'd say they were the most important thing to a squad," Welkin replied, both surprising and infuriating the other two, "anyone else have a thought?"

"The most important thing to a good squad? That's easy, it's the lives of your squad mates," Vine spoke up, "training and experience are both important, but if I learned anything while I was in Ishval, it was that in the heat of the moment, even the most experienced or well-trained soldiers can fall to pieces and become little more than drooling zombies pulling a trigger. Besides, as long as you're alive, you can always get more of both. A squad full of dead soldiers can't help anyone."

"The lives of your squad-mates?" Rosie shouted angrily, "a poorly trained soldier isn't any good to anyone, whether they're alive or dead."

"I'm not going to argue opinions with you," Vine sighed, "the man asked my opinion so I gave it, simple as that. Whether you like it or not is your problem, I don't care."

"Why you little…" Rosie began to hiss until the large man interrupted her.

"Ishval, huh? What did you say your name was?"

"Huh? Vine."

"So it is you, then. You're the son of that Darcsen who was deceiving the royal family all those years. I heard they kicked you out of the army," the man declared.

"And you are?" Vine asked.

"Largo Potter," the man replied, "I'm sure you've heard of me if you were in Ishval."

"Oh, I heard of you. Honestly, I'm a fan of your work in Europa War I. I heard you once took down 5 Imperial Tanks single-handedly. The Imps took to calling you Largo the Destroyer, if I'm not wrong, though I hear you had a slightly different nickname in Ishval. The Mad Bomber, or something of the sort if I'm not wrong. So, did you get a lot of experience blowing Ishvallan civilians to pieces for the Fuhrer, Largo Potter?" Vine asked, his temper obviously coming to a boil.

"Why you little…" largo hissed angrily as he began to step towards Vine.

"Hey, come on, that's enough," Alicia pleaded, "we shouldn't get into a fight on our first day as a squad."

"Actually, I'm inclined to agree with Vine's answer," Welkin declared happily, "He makes a really good point. You can always gain more experience or train more, but only if you're still alive when the fighting is done. Besides, if you go out and just get killed, then what was the point of it? All your dreams and everything you were fighting for just dies with you. So, it's time for us to move out, but just remember. Your most important task out there on the battlefield is this, to stay alive, alright?"

"Stay alive?" Largo questioned, "you've gotta be kidding. This is a war. People dying is part of war, it's as simple as that. I can't believe you'd listen to the opinion of a dark hair."

"Come on, 4 letters. It's the same number of letters as is in both dark and hair, so why is Vine so difficult. If you really must know, it's a plant that hangs of of trees in the wild, so it should be really easy to remember."

….

It was only a couple hours march to the town that Squad 7 was to liberate, and soon, they stood outside the town, preparing for the strike.

"Alright, here's our plan," Welkin declared, "the force here has two tanks, but they shouldn't be to much of a problem. We'll have the Edelweiss take the lead and take care of the watch tower. Then the rest of the squad can advance into the city, using the Edelweiss as cover. Our objective is to secure the enemy command center. They're using the town hall in the center of town as their base of operations, so we need to take that away from them."

"So this is the legendary Edelweiss," Vine said as he looked over the squad tank which Welkin was piloting, "I've heard about this thing. I hear it was quite the tank. Built by the late Theimer and piloted by the EWI hero, the late General Gunther. I thought I'd heard the name before. So your father left you his tank huh? Interesting inheritance."

"Actually, I guess to be fair, the tank really isn't mine," Welkin revealed, "technically the tank belongs to Isara."

"Who?" Vine replied.

"Isara, she's my little sister and our squad tank pilot," Welkin revealed.

"Your little sister is a tank pilot?" Vine said in surprise, "wow, being the child of a war hero must be a really interesting life style." Just then the hatch to the tank opened and a young Darcsen girl with short hair climbed out, wearing a white shawl with traditional darcsen markings over her Gallian militia uniform.

"Welks, I just finished the Edelweiss' inspection, we're ready to move out," the girl declared.

"Uhhh, and you are…?" Vine asked.

"Vine, this is my sister, Isara," Welkin revealed.

"Huh? Uhhhh… Lieutenant, are you aware your sister's a Darcsen?" Vine asked.

"Huh, yeah," Welkin replied.

"Okay," Vine replied, "nothing unusual about this situation. Uhh, pleased to meet you Ms. Isara, Name's Vine." He said offering out his hand.

"I know your name. It's only 4 letters, right, easy to remember," Isara replied, smiling cheekily.

"Wow, and people call me a tease," Vine sighed rubbing the back of his head.

"Hey, what's the deal, buddy boy," Rosie shouted angrily.

"What's the deal with who?" Vine asked.

"What's the deal with you," Largo replied, "you realize we're supposed to start the operation now, right. Where's your weapon?"

"Oh right," Vine replied, reaching into his red cloak, "here they are," he declared pulling out his dark blue alchemy gloves which he pulled over his hands.

"Gloves? How're gloves supposed to be a weapon?" Rosie demanded.

"You know, it wouldn't kill ya to be nice for a second," Vine declared, "and it's not the gloves that are the weapons, it's this." He held up his hand so that Rosie could see the circle drawn on the back of it.

"A circle?"

"A transmutation circle!?" Isara exclaimed, "you're… an alchemist?"

"Sounds about right, kid," Vine replied turning his back to Isara, "now, don't we have a job to do?"

"Right," Welkin said as he faced the rest of the squad, "alright, time to liberate this town. Squad 7, move out!" As the squad gathered behind the tank, Welkin helped Isara back up into the tank. He immediately noticed that something was troubling his sister. "Something wrong Is?"

"That man," Isara replied.

"You mean Vine? What about him?" Welkin asked.

"A Darcsen who uses Alchemy," Isara replied in a worried tone, "he's… a heathen?"

"What?" Welkin asked, surprised by his sister's choice of words. He'd never heard her say something like that before about anyone.

"Huh, oh!" Isara cried suddenly, obviously a bit embarrassed, "that's what a lot of Darcsens call any of their kind who practice Alchemy. See most Darcsens view the practice of Alchemy as a forbidden taboo. Anyone who does practice it is considered a heathen and most Darcsens won't associate with them. They end up being exiled by others who have anti-darcsen feelings, but their own kind as well."

"Really? Why?" Welkin asked.

"I… I don't know. I don't think anyone really does," Is replied, "but… I can't help but wonder what that poor man is going to have to endure because of that fact."

"I'm sure he'll be fine. He seems pretty tough," Welkin replied, "alright, now commence operation!" he shouted as the Squad began its advance towards the town.

….

Half an hour later, the operation was progressing smoothly as Squad 7 was slowly moving through the streets of the town, fending off Imperial Soldiers as they went. None of them were aware that on a rooftop nearby, an Imperial Sniper was aiming down at them.

"Just hold still for a second," he hissed quietly as his crosshairs rested on Rosie's head, "now die, Gallian." He slowly began to squeeze the trigger. Suddenly, just as he was about to fire the shell into the unsuspecting Gallian, his rifle was pushed up, causing the bullet to instead go through a window above Rosie's head and shower her with glass.

"Now, that's not very Gentlemanlike," Vine declared as he kicked the rifle out of the man's hand and into the air, grabbed it, and then slammed it back down into the back of the sniper's head, knocking him unconscious. "Guess that really wasn't either, but no one ever accused me of being a gentleman. Now, where're those two tanks?" he said, smiling as he snapped the sniper rifle over his knee. Using the roof as a vantage point, he quickly scanned the city until he spotted his targets a ways ahead of the advancing sevens.

"Weird, they're setting them up on a side road instead of trying to use them to intercept the others," Vine realized. Using the rooftops, to move unopposed, he quickly stood over the two tanks, each backed by roughly six men.

"Well, well, aren't they smart. Setting up an ambush for the sevens when they move into the town square. I gotta hand it to these imps, they really know how to set a trap. Unfortunately for them, so do I. He declared, placing his hands against the wall. The soldiers on the ground watched in surprise and horror as a stone wall suddenly extended across the street they were on, blocking their route into the town square.

"What the… guhh!" one of the soldiers shouted as Vine suddenly landed on his shoulders, knocking him to the ground.

"Hey, any of you mind showing a lost Gallian around?" Vine asked.

"It's one of the Gallian dogs!" another soldier shouted as the 11 remaining pointed their guns at Vine.

"Oooo, doggie. I do like doggies," Vine replied calmly, "well boys, if I'm a doggie, then I guess that makes you doggie food. Huh, that's not bad, I gotta remember that line," he said as he transmuted a wall of earth between him and the enemy soldiers as they opened fire.

"What the heck!"

"He's an alchemist!"

"Get him!" one of the soldiers ordered as the tank turret turned and fired a shell into the wall, knocking it to the ground. "Is he dead!"

"Not likely," Vine declared from beside the soldier, grabbing his gun and slamming the butt of it into the man's face knocking him unconscious, before turning and firing two red blasts into two men, knocking them flying into the nearest walls. Ducking to evade fire, he spun and fired two move blasts that knocked another two flying. "This is almost to easy," Vine declared, rolling forward to evade a tank shell before firing a slimmer blast into the tank. The tank ripped right through the tank, causing the entire vehicle to explode. "Six men and one tank," Vine declared, "I'm half done."

"Hold your fire!" one of the other soldiers pleaded as the six men dropped their guns, "we give up."

"Smart move, now I'd clear out that tank if I were you."

….

A short while later, Edelweiss rolled into the courtyard of the town hall. The tank stopped and Welkin opened the hatch and climbed out, a rifle slung hanging off of his shoulder.

"Alright, let's move in and clear out the building!" Welkin ordered as the sevens prepared to charge.

"Hold on Welks, look!" Isara shouted pointing up at the second floor window where a white flag was now waving, "it looks like they're surrendering."

"I guess so," Welkin declared, "what… happened?" he wondered as a sound from the nearby side-street caught his attention. In the street, 8 Imperial soldiers sat bound and gagged in the middle of 6 more unconscious soldiers and the remains of 2 Imperial Tanks."

"What…" Welkin stuttered as he looked on in awe at the scene before him. The others were all to stunned to speak.

"Well, that was a good workout," Vine declared as he approached the group from behind. He froze as the eyes of all the sevens were suddenly fixed on him, "okay would you stop staring at me? I feel like I'm just going to spontaneously catch on fire or something."

"So where were you, alchemist?" Rosie demanded, "I didn't see you at all the whole time we were here."

"Sure, you didn't see me, but you sure felt my presence," Vine replied pointing at his cheek. Rosie scowled as she covered a scratch with her hand that had been left on her cheek by the exploding window.

"By the way, if I hadn't diverted that shell, it would have been your head that went boom, not the window," Vine declared.

"Well, looks like everything went according to plan," Welkin declared as he hopped out of the Edelweiss followed by Isara, "alright, let's finish securing the town hall and then we can head back to base."

"Yes sir," the sevens all replied as they all moved inside the town hall. Just then, an Imperial Sniper pointed his weapon around the corner of the building and took aim, his crosshairs resting on Isara's heart as he began to pull the trigger. Isara suddenly found herself tackled to the ground as a gunshot rang out and a bullet deflected off the armor of the Edelweiss. Vine rolled off Isara and too his feet, firing a blast at the sniper that knocked him off his feet and onto his back.

"Uhhh, missed one," he said looking over at the stunned sevens who were all staring at him once again, "okay, seriously, can we stop with the staring, already?"

….

No more Imperial soldiers dared try to surprise the sevens after that, and soon, they were on their way back to base with a large number of Imperial Prisoners.

"Not bad for the first mission," Vine sighed as he stretched his arms. He looked around him, waiting for some kind of reply, "alright, come on, I feel like I'm being escorted to a court martial or something. Seriously, what did I do?" After waiting for a reply, he finally acknowledged defeat, "right, just wander along quietly back to Randgriz. Not another peep. Yeesh, I wonder if they'll sentence me to the firing squad." Slowing his pace, he allowed himself to fall to the back of the group as he looked over the squad he'd found himself assigned to. "Squad 7, huh," he whispered quietly to himself, "you know, I think they might be scared of me," he realized as the squad continued the long march back to Randgriz after its first victory.

**Ending Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)**


	6. Reason to Fight

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**EUROPA WAR II**

**Chapter 5**

**REASON TO FIGHT**

**Opening Theme: Melissa (Fullmetal Alchemist)**

Vine sighed deeply as he left Squad 7s briefing room after the debriefing for their successful mission. "Man, I hate giving reports, it's such a pain in the neck," he declared as he cracked his neck, "and it looks like the squad's still uncertain about me. Man, I'm used to having people be intimidated by me, but this is ridiculous. I need to do something or this is going to get problematic. Well, I never come up with anything when I'm just sitting and stewing, so I think it's time for some training."

"Did I hear someone say training?" a woman asked from behind him. A woman from his squad had just exited the briefing room.

"Oh, uhhh… you're in my squad, aren't you? Uhhh, Rosina, right?" Vine asked nervously.

"You're pretty good at remembering names, Dark Hair," Rosina replied.

"Well someone's gotta be," Vine replied in annoyance.

"So, I'm curious? What kind of training does a little pansy dark hair do?" Rosina demanded.

"Come again?" Vine replied, a little confused by the question.

"You know what my biggest problem is with you dark hairs? I don't believe in silly things like the Darcsen Calamity, but I just can't stand wimps. You dark hairs are always so stuck in your books or so busy playing with your hammers or wrenches, you never have time for real training. Nothing but a race of weaklings. So, what kind of training does a weakling do?" Rosina asked again.

"You think I'm a weakling, huh?" Vine replied cracking his knuckles, "well, what do you say to finding out? I can always use a sparring partner. It's a lot more fun and a lot more beneficial to train with a real fight."

"You want to spar with me?" Rosina asked laughing, "I'll give you credit, for a scrawny little dark hair, you've got some guts."

"Well, what do you say? You're not scared of a 'scrawny little dark hair' are you?" Vine asked tauntingly.

"Not hardly. You've got yourself a match, pal. Let's go!"

"Whoa, easy sparky. Not a good idea to fight inside the building. Let's take this outside," Vine suggested.

"Uhhh… good point."

….

A couple of minutes later, the two squad mates squared off with each other as a group of soldiers gathered in a circle around them to watch.

"I should warn you," Rosina declared, "I'm not going to go easy on you just because you're a dark hair."

"That's fine. Actually, I was about to tell you I wasn't going to go easy on you because you're a girl," Vine revealed, "now, come!"

"Fine with me!" Rosina shouted as she charged at Vine, throwing a fierce punch which Vine ducked under then stepped to the side to avoid an overhead attack from Rosina's other hand. "You're good at dodging at least!"

"I have to be. I'm only human and I don't carry a gun. If I can't dodge every bullet that's fired at me, I won't live long enough to finish a fight," Vine replied as he dodged 3 more punches with ease, "but don't worry, I can dish it out too." As he spoke, Rosina threw another punch which Vine blocked. Vine responded by kicking at the woman who blocked the attack and stepped back. Vine threw a few more punches which Rosina blocked before lashing out with a kick which Vine easily dodged by stepping backwards. She charged at Vine, throwing a punch which Vine sidestepped, then spun around with another punch. This time, Vine caught her arm, raised his hand, and pushed his opponent, causing her to stumble backwards. She was quick to recover, however, and came at Vine with an elbow which he blocked with his left hand, raising his right hand to catch her fist as she attempted to strike him in the head and then kicked her in the stomach, knocking her backwards again.

"You're pretty tough, Rosina," Vine declared as Rosina once again rose to her feet, "no man has ever gotten up after taking so many of my hits."

"This is nothing. I work out every day to build up my strength," Rosina declared.

"It shows. You're really strong, this is the most fun I've had in a fight since I used to get my butt kicked by my old master," Vine declared, "I think this might take a while, but that's fine with me."

"Enough talking," Rosina ordered, "let's keep going." She charged at Vine, throwing a punch, which Vine caught and countered with another punch which was blocked as well.

….

After another 15 minutes, both fighters were breathing heavily as they continued to trade blows.

"Phew," Vine sighed, "we should have sold tickets," he said laughing as he looked around at the continuously growing crowd around them."

"I can't believe… a dark hair is keeping pace with me," Rosina panted, "I've got to admit, you're strong."

"Thanks, you're pretty tough yourself, but I think it's time for the fun to end," Vine declared as he prepared for Rosina's next attack.

"Here I come," Rosina shouted attacking with another punch which Vine ducked under. Shooting up, he grabbed Rosina by the neck and lifted her up, slamming her back down into the ground.

"Hey, that's a little extreme isn't it!?" a spectator shouted angrily, "that Dark Hair's fighting dirty!"

"Shut up!" Rosina shouted suddenly, "you jerk. You put your hand behind my head at the last moment to soften the impact. You didn't think I could handle it!?" Sure enough, Vine was kneeling next to her, his right hand over her throat while his left arm was under her head.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," Vine replied standing up, "I didn't want to use that move on you, because it usually lands its target in the hospital, but none of my basic attacks were working." He offered out his hand to help her up. "I didn't want one of my own squad mates to end up in the hospital because of something I did."

"Well, next time, don't pull your punch," Rosina ordered as she took Vine's hand, "I'm not going to let this slide. I'm going to keep training and I'm going to keep fighting you until I beat you, got it Dar… got it, Vine?"

"That's fine with me," Vine declared, pulling her to her feet and patting her on her shoulder, "I'm always up for a good sparing match."

"Good, then I'll come find you again when I'm ready to beat you," Rosina declared as she turned and walked away.

"I'll be looking forward to it," Vine declared, a pleased smile showing on his face.

….

"Man, I'm beat," Vine sighed as he walked through the camp after his sparring match, "well, it's getting pretty late. I'd probably better get a shower in and get some sleep. Tomorrow's my first full day as a militia man, don't wanna be tired."

"Hey, someone, please help!" he heard a voice shout suddenly.

"So much for that plan," Vine sighed as he turned and headed towards the sound of the voice.. He soon found the person who had cried, discovering it to belong to a young man with short brown hair who was kneeling next to a slightly younger man with spikier hair of the same color who was lying on the ground and appeared to be in pain! Vine recognized them from his squad.

"Hey, what's wrong!?" Vine shouted as he ran to the two boys aid.

"Please, help us!" the older boy pleaded, "it's my brother, he's sick!" he revealed as Vine knelt next to the boy.

"He's got a bad fever. We need to get him to the infirmary, right now," Vine ordered, as he turned his back on the boy, "help me get him on my shoulders."

"Okay," the boy replied frantically as he began to lift his younger brother.

"You're Oscar, right? Oscar Bielert, and your little brother Emile. I'm Vine, glad I could help," Vine declared as he got the younger brother onto his back and lifted him up. "Let's go," he ordered as he led the distraught older brother towards the infirmary.

….

Vine reached the infirmary quickly and Emile was now lying in an infirmary bed, being inspected by a blonde haired medic while he sat next to an exhausted Oscar who had fallen asleep only minutes earlier. "Well?" he asked as the doctor approached him.

"He'll be alright," the medic replied kindly, "he's just sleeping right now. The two of them can stay here tonight. You're welcome to stay as well if you'd like, Corporal."

"That's alright," Vine replied rising to his feet, "I'm sorry to trouble you, but I do have one last thing to ask. Is it alright if I put the older brother in the empty bed next to his younger brother? I know he isn't sick, but…"

"It's no trouble at all, Mr. Vine," the woman replied sweetly.

"Thanks," Vine replied as he carefully lifted up Oscar and carried him to the bed, "I'll leave 'em in your care then, doc. Oh, and for future reference, it's just Vine. No mister needed."

….

Vine hadn't realized it was so late as he walked out of the infirmary and began his walk back to the barracks.

"Wow, it's pretty dark," he said, "I hope I'm not going to get in trouble for staying out so late. Oh well, what can you do? I'm just glad those kids are alright. Now, if you boys are done following me, maybe we can settle whatever business you have with me," he declared, coming to a stop.

"So, you knew we were following you, eh, alchemist," a man declared as he and 9 other muscular men emerged from the shadows around Vine, "you're a pretty perceptive little rat."

"Not at all. I just have a good nose. Of course, people from miles around can probably smell your stink," Vine replied, "now, do you have business with me?"

"You might say that," the man declared again as he swung his arm and struck Vine in the back of the head, knocking the alchemist to his knees, "see we're Gallian soldiers, and we don't care much for alchemists."

"Is that right?" Vine asked rising to his feet again and cracking his neck, "well, I just don't care."

"You should," another man declared as he punched Vine in the stomach as another hit him from behind and knocked him flat to the ground.

"You aren't in Amestris, Alchemist," the man who had hit Vine in the back declared as he began stomping his foot into the downed Alchemists back, "you're in Gallia now, so you'd better watch your back."

"That so, well, I'll make a memo of that," Vine declared, "now, if you don't mind, I've had a long day and I'd really like to get some sleep."

"Just keep mouthing off, Alchemist!" the first man, who seemed to be their leader, declared as all 10 men began attacking the still down alchemist, "we'll just have to teach you some manners."

"Hey!" they heard a voice shout suddenly, "what's going on over here!?"

"Crap, it's the patrols," the leader said angrily as he kicked Vine in the side one last time, "you get off easy this time, alchemist, but you won't be so lucky next time!" With that, all 10 men disappeared back into the shadows.

"Yeah yeah, I'll keep that in mind," Vine replied in an uninterested tone as he stood up and cracked his neck and back.

"Vine, are you alright!?" a familiar voice shouted. Vine turned to see Isara.

"Isara? What're you still doing up?" he asked.

"I was doing some inspections on the Edelweiss. I was just on my way back to the barracks when I saw those men attack you! Did they hurt you!?" Isara asked, sounding genuinely worried.

"Huh? Nah, not a chance. It'll take more than those guys to do any damage to me. Thanks for asking though," Vine declared, "come on, I'll walk you back to the barracks."

"I don't get it. I saw your fight earlier with Rosina. You were amazing, so why did you just let those guys beat on you like that? You took out dozens of Imperial soldiers during the mission today!" Isara asked.

"Huh? And what good would that have done?" Vine asked, "just because they were being jerks isn't a good enough reason for me to beat them. Sometimes, it's as important to know when not to fight as when to fight."

"What do you mean?" Isara asked.

"How can I put this?" Vine wondered aloud, "if I had beaten on those men, next time, they'd just bring more of their buddies and try again and I'd have to take them down as well. Now, I doubt they'd ever get a big enough group together to actually beat me, but still, it'd get pretty old, fighting them all the time. As it is, those ten might be a pain in the neck for a couple of days, but sooner or later, they're gonna get tired of it. I just don't see a reason to fight them when I know it'd only cause more trouble down the road."

"So you let them beat on you like that!?" Isara shouted back, "do you think you were being noble or something? If you don't ever stand up to them, why do you think they're ever going to stop!?"

"I know, because I've dealt with their kind before. They want you to cause trouble by fighting them. It makes them feel like they're justified in what they do, so they just keep doing it. Even the lowest of scum bags is eventually going to get tired of punching someone who doesn't punch back. Besides, if I attacked those men just now, it likely would have ended with all 10 of them in the infirmary, and I just don't feel comfortable hurting people like that just to save my own skin."

"That sounds like a better reason," Isara sighed.

"What do you mean?" Vine asked.

"If you knew they couldn't really hurt you so you held back because you didn't want to hurt them, then that's different. That actually makes you sound strong, whereas what you were saying before sounded really weak and spineless," Isara replied.

"Huh, you know, for such a cute young woman, you can be pretty brutal some times," Vine declared, chuckling a bit, "alright fine. If you really wanna know, I didn't attack them because I didn't want to have to take them back to the hospital after I just left, alright? Well, here we are, the girl's barracks. I'd better go get some sleep before morning."

"Alright, I'll accept that answer," Isara declared as Vine began to walk away, "so what'll your excuse be next time?"

"Good night, Ms. Isara," Vine replied firmly as he waved to her without turning.

….

The next morning at breakfast, Vine sat alone at a table in the cafeteria, near where a few younger members of his squad, including the two Bielert brothers he'd helped the day before, were sitting. As he began to eat, he noticed that a young girl whose brown hair was tied in two pig tails was crying while another girl who had silver hair that was tied in two pony tails tried to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, Aisha," the girl who Vine recognized to be Edy Nelson from his squad, said, "I promise, I'll buy you a new one when I'm in town today."

"But… my mama gave me this," the younger girl, Aisha cried as she looked down at a small, broken earring that lay on the table between the girls. It was a silver piece of metal that was broken in half, "how could this have happened?" Vine sighed and grabbed a berry from his tray which he threw at Oscar, nailing the older Bielert on the forehead, causing him to look up at Vine. Vine reached into his red cloak and pulled out an alchemy glove, holding it up so Oscar could see it as he motioned towards the earring. Oscar nodded his head and elbowed Emile. The two brothers whispered for a moment and while Aisha and Edy were distracted, Emile grabbed the broken earring and ran over to Vine's table.

"Can you fix it?" Emile asked as he put the earring on the table.

"Don't insult me, kid. Putting two halves back together is alchemy 101," Vine replied as he performed a quick transmutation that joined the two halves together again. "There, good as new, now get it back before it's missed."

"Yes sir," Emile replied as he grabbed the repaired earing at took it back to his table. Vine sighed and glanced to his side. Sure enough, the leader of the men from the night before was sitting only a few tables down from him and he was already talking with one of the other men.

"Ah, what a wonderful world," Vine sighed as he continued to eat calmly, "at least the food is good… well by army standards at least." He glanced up to see that Aisha had noticed the fixed earing and was now smiling happily and talking with Emile and Oscar. "Heh, I guess it was worth it. I wonder what they're talking about though." His heart sank when Oscar pointed at Vine and Aisha looked up at him. "Uh oh."

The three young sevens talked for a second longer and then Aisha suddenly stood up from her seat and ran towards Vine's table. "Uhh… can I…" Vine began to asked, but was stopped short as the young seven threw her arms around his waist and hugged him.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Vine!" she shouted happily as Vine tried to get her to let him go. Looking back to where the man had been sitting, he discovered that the man had already gathered his nine buddies and were about to head towards him.

"Yeah, whatever, I just happened to be here, alright. Now go back and sit with your friends," Vine replied, trying to sound cold and uncaring. Aisha let him go and ran back to her own table, causing Vine to release a loud sigh of relief as the men approached him.

"Hey, alchemist, remember us?" the leader demanded as the nine men gathered around the table.

"Huh, the stench is familiar, but I can't quite place the face. Don't tell me, we wrestled in high school, didn't we," Vine replied mockingly.

"What? No, last night, remember?" the man replied, almost causing Vine to fall from his chair.

"Wow, I can see how you hate alchemists. You probably feel the same way towards anyone with an I.Q. higher then a rock," he sighed in response.

"Did you just insult me, alchemist?" the man asked angrily.

"Wow, give the man a lollipop, he actually figured that out all by himself," Vine sighed in reply.

"Oh, I've got a better idea," the man replied, "that food looks pretty good, why don't I help you eat it?" he said as he flipped Vine's tray of food into the alchemist's chest.

"Great, blueberry juice on a red cape. Good thing I'm an **alchemist,**" Vine sighed, giving special emphasis to the last word.

"Why you little punk, apparently, we already need to teach you another lesson," the man hissed angrily.

"Oh goody, what're we learning today?" Vine asked, "anything but engineering. I know what you're thinking; he's a Darcsen, right? He should love engineering, well let's just say there's a reason I'm an alchemist, I…" he stopped in the middle of his joke as Aisha, suddenly ran back to his table, sat down her tray of food, and sat down across from Vine, seemingly unaware of the hostile men around the alchemist as she happily resumed eating, "uhhh…"

"Whose this brat?" the leader demanded.

"No one," Vine replied, "she's just some… kid who happens to be part of my squad. Guess she couldn't find anywhere else to sit, but I'm pretty sure there's a spot next to **Edy **that would be perfect for **Aisha!**"

"Huh?" Aisha replied, "but Aisha doesn't want to sit with Edy, Aisha wants to sit with you, Mr. Vine."

"Who's Aisha?"

"Thank goodness these guys are idiots," Vine sighed, "kid, can't you see I'm busy here, get lost."

"Why?" Aisha replied looking up at Vine, "I wanna sit with you. Edy has lots of people sitting with her, but you're all alone."

_Sweet kid, but of all the times for the sweet kid not to be scared to death of me, she had to choose now, _Vine thought to himself.

"Is that so?" the leader of the men asked, "so are you telling me you like this alchemist?"

"Huh?" Aisha replied.

"Ah come on, are you kidding. She's a kid, I'll bet you if I showed her some alchemy she'd run screaming to the other…"

"Sure Aisha likes Mr. Vine. He fixed my Mama's earring!" Aisha shouted happily.

"Who says no good deed ever goes unpunished," Vine sighed.

"Well kid, guess what I think of people who like alchemists," the man said as he reached towards Aisha's drink cup.

"Ah come on, leave her out of this, she's just some darn kid," Vine pleaded as the man picked up the glass.

"Hey, that's my juice!" Aisha protested as the man took her drink.

"Juice? What a baby," the man declared, "you want it back? Here you can have it," he said as he poured the contents of the cup over Aisha's head, surprising the young militia soldier.

"You monster," Vine hissed angrily as he rose to his feet.

"I'd advise you to sit down," the man threatened, "unless you want what happened to you last night to happen again."

"W… wahhh," Aisha began to cry which only infuriated the man further.

"Shut up brat, or I'll give you a reason to cry!" the man threatened.

"You lay a finger on her and you'll leave this room in a box," Vine hissed threateningly.

"Oh, is that a fact Alchemist?" the man replied angrily, "let's see about that, shall we." Smiling tauntingly, the man reached down and grabbed one of Aisha's pig tail, pulling on it and causing the girl to scream with distress.

"Let her go!" a voice ordered from behind the man who turned to see that both Bielert brothers were standing behind him.

"What, more brats who want to stick up for the alchemist?" the man demanded, "do you wanna end up like your friend you snot nosed brats?" the man asked, pulling Aisha's hair and causing her to cry again. Vine stood up and moved around the table to confront the man.

"Hey, you heard what the boss said, sit back down or you and these kids'll…" he didn't get to finish his sentence as Vine swung up with his fist, backhanding the man in the face and flattening him to his back.

"That was a bad move, pal," another man shouted, swinging for Vine from behind. Vine easily dodged him, and swung his arm out, clotheslining the man and laying him to the ground.

"No, I assure you, that wasn't the bad move," Vine declared as he cracked his knuckles, "you could punch me or kick me, you can throw food and drink on me, I wouldn't react if you spat in my face, but anyone who puts a finger on my friends can count they're going to be spending the night in the hospital." As he spoke, the leader of the men released Aisha and turned to face him.

"The only person whose spending the night in the hospital is you!" he shouted, punching at Vine, who sidestepped him and shoved him in the back, knocking him past the alchemist who knelt down next to Aisha.

"Are you alright?" Vine asked as he ruffled the young girl's hair, "you don't have to be scared of them. They're just about to leave, okay?" Aisha nodded in response. "There we go, now enough crying. You're a soldier so let's see a tough face."

"Hey, don't you ignore me!" the man shouted angrily as he charged again.

"Scum like you who would attack children aren't worth my attention," Vine replied as he ducked under the man's attack and grabbed him by the throat, "get lost!" he shouted performing the same move he'd used to take down Rosina the day before, minus the easing the impact with his other hand. Vine rose, but the man didn't. His remaining companions watched in horror as the alchemist turned his attention to them. "Anyone else care to try?" The men gave no response, "then take him, and get lost." As the men scurried away Oscar and Emille ran up behind Vine.

"That was incredible!" Oscar shouted energetically, "you definitely taught them a lesson!"

"What are you two doing over here?" Vine demanded angrily, "go back and sit with your friends!"

"What do you think we're doing?" Emille asked.

"Then what're you still doing over here?"

"We just told you," Oscar replied as he and Emille sat next to Aisha, "we're sitting with our friend." Vine was a little taken aback by the statement and looked back at the three younger squad members in surprise. All three of them were smiling happily at the alchemist.

"Great, why do I get the feeling you kids are going to be the death of me?" Vine sighed as he sat back down in his chair.

"This table's a little fuller then I thought it'd be," a voice declared from behind him. Vine looked up just in time to see Isara and Welkin as they took the seats next to him.

"You have room for a few more?" Welkin asked.

"I guess," Vine replied, trying to look as uninterested as possible.

"So, I thought you said you weren't going to fight those men," Isara said teasingly as she sat down next to the alchemist, "so what changed your mind?"

"I said as long as they were just messing with me, I wouldn't take them down," Vine replied, "but no one is going to mess with Squad 7 while I'm around."

"That's good to hear," Welkin said happily, "I'll be counting on that soon, alright?"

"What do you mean?" Vine replied in confusion.

"We just got new orders," Welkin revealed, "we're heading for the town of Vassel tomorrow morning. It looks like it's going to be a substantially more difficult mission then our last one was."

"Oh, is that all," Vine replied laughing casually, "well then, that won't be a problem, boss."

"I feel sorry for any imps who think they can take us on," Oscar declared, "there's no mission we can't handle."

"What he said," Vine replied calmly as he leaned back in the chair, "this'll be easy."

_Sometimes, I think I need to learn when to keep my mouth shut._

**Ending Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)**


	7. Vassel

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**EUROPA WAR II**

**Chapter 5**

**VASSEL**

**Opening Theme: Melissa (Fullmetal Alchemist)**

Vine stood on top of the Edelweiss, watching the road ahead as the tank continued to roll on towards its destination. Vassel was a major industrial center for Gallia and as long as the Imperials had it under their control, they had Randgriz virtually at knife point. The problem with retaking the town was that the Great Vassel Bridge, a large drawbridge that connected the two halves of the town, had fallen into Imperial hands and was now garrisoned with a large number of Imperial tank battalions. Taking the west side of the town would be easy, but taking the east was going to be tricky.

"Huh, too bad we can't avoid the bridge all together, but it's the only way across the river. The river's used for shipping so it'll be way too deep to try to ford it with tanks. This is gonna get a little messy," Vine sighed quietly as he thought.

"What's up?" Welkin asked, "everything alright?"

"No, this mission is going to be significantly harder than our last one was," Vine replied, "the Imps are bunkered in and they're not leaving any time soon. I wager we can take back the west side of the river in a day or two, but the east side… well, we're gonna be her awhile."

"Well, we shouldn't just assume things before we get there," Welkin suggested, "who knows, the regular army has been fighting in Vassel for about a week now, maybe they've already taken back the city."

"Great, not only do we have to take back the city, but we'll have to clean up the army's mess. It's gonna be a long mission," Vine sighed.

….

Most of the squad knew it was going to be bad when they arrived in Vassel, but even Vine hadn't anticipated how bad it would be. As the squad traveled down a hillside that led towards Vassel, they could see the battered and broken remains of Gallian tanks littered the streets on the west side of the bank while Gallian soldiers were getting blown away by three Imperial tanks that were set up on that side as well.

"You've gotta be kidding me, three tanks are making our guys look like a bunch of chimps. What the heck is going on down there?" Vine fumed.

"This looks pretty bad, what do we do?" Welkin asked as Vine pulled his alchemy gloves from his cloak.

"I'm gonna go teach those Imps a lesson. You guys keep heading to where we're supposed to rendezvous with the rest of the militia. I won't be long."

"Hold on, pal. Our orders are to head straight to the Rendezvous," Largo objected, "We can get orders on what we're supposed to do from there."

"Get orders from whoevers ordering these guys to line themselves up in a shooting gallery?" Vine retorted, "No thanks." With that, he leapt down from the top of the Edelweiss and charged down the hill.

"That guy, I see that after five years he still has no respect for authority," Largo declared angrily.

"Not true!" Vine shouted back, "I just have no respect for incompetent authority!"

….

"Everyone, take cover!" a gallian soldier shouted as they tried to evade the fire of the three tanks, "what's going on, how are three tanks tearing us apart like this! Where're those worthless militia men with our support!?"

"Careful what you say, the worthless militia man might change his mind about saving your rears," Vine declared as he suddenly jumped down from a building top and landed next to the man, "what the heck is going on?"

"It's our worthless soldier's fault!" the man replied, "as soon as the tank shells started flying, they stopped listening to my orders and started running for cover."

"Wow, smart guys, imagine that, find cover when a tank points its gun at you. Not exactly revolutionary thinking there, Sherlock," Vine declared in annoyance as he peeked around the corner at the three tanks, "I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but stay here," he ordered as he shot around the corner. The man heard three loud explosions and then silence. He thought for sure that the newcomer had been blown to pieces, at least until Vine suddenly walked past him, whistling happily as he tossed a piece of a gun barrel to the man's feet. "Done," he declared as he kept walking. Confused, the man peeked around the corner, yelping with surprise when he realized that all 3 tanks had been disabled and their crews lay unconscious around the tanks' remains.

….

"Alright, is everyone here?" Captain Varrot asked when Squad 7 had joined the remainder of the militia at their rendezvous point.

"Ma'am, a member of our squad is assisting the men in the town in finishing off the tanks they were engaged with when we arrived. He should be along soon," Welkin replied.

"That's fine, you can relay this information to him when you see him again," the captain replied, "You've likely already seen that our situation here is less than favorable. Right now, at least nine Imperial tanks are positioned on the Vassel Bridge, preventing us from crossing the bridge. Add that to the three that our already on this side and an additional four on the other side of the bridge, and we're dealing with at least 16 tanks plus infantry soldiers. To say we've got our work cut out for us would be an understatement."

"So, what do we do then?" Faldio asked.

"Our first objective is to aid the remnant of the regular army forces here in retaking the west side of the bridge. The means we need to deal with the three tanks that are on this side of the bridge and drive back the infantry men who are stationed here. Beyond that, we'll eventually have to assault the bridge."

"Trying to take on that bridge is going to result in massive casualties," Faldio objected, "isn't there any other way?"

"I'm afraid not," Captain Varrot replied, "it's unfortunate, but you're all soldiers now. You're expected to handle dangerous situations, and you all knew when you enlisted that you could be injured or even killed. That's simply the fate of a soldier."

"The fate… of a soldier," Welkin repeated quietly.

"Alright, now you all have your orders, so get to work."

"Yes Ma'am!"

….

"Crap, crap, crap, I'm completely lost. Where were we supposed to meet again?" Vine panicked as he ran through the city, "oh man, oh well, I'm probably already in trouble so what else can they do to me?"

"Someone help us, please!" he heard a man shout from a short distance off.

"Well, back to work," Vine declared as he made for the source of the voice.

A short distance away, a group of five Imperial soldiers had gathered a large group of Darcsen prisoners and were busy loading them into a transport truck.

"Heh, what a joke," a soldier declared, "Gallia acts all holier than thou, allowing Dark Hairs to supposedly live as equals in its borders, but as soon as things turn ugly, they sure show their true colors."

"What do you mean?" a voice asked from behind him.

"The Gallian army was evacuating all the civilians from the city when we started coming, but they forced the Darcsens to wait until last. Well, we arrived before they could evacuate everyone, so the Darcsens just got left here for us," the man replied, laughing wickedly, "that's fine, Fouzen has a few openings and we can just kill any of them we don't need."

"Wow, how do you look at yourself in the mirror every morning?" the voice behind him demanded as he grabbed the man by the back of his shirt, "don't answer that, I don't care," Vine declared as he pulled the man back and slammed his head against the ground, knocking him unconscious.

"What the…" one of the other 4 men shouted angrily, looking over at the Gallian soldier who'd just arrived.

"That was a bad move pal," another one shouted as the four pointed their guns at Vine.

"No, what was a bad move was pissing me off," Vine replied as he advanced towards the four enemies.

….

Vine brushed off his cloak after all four men had been knocked unconscious. "Man, what a bunch of losers," he hissed angrily, "tormenting the weak and the helpless. They were just a bunch of useless bigots." With that, he turned his attention to the Darcsens who had been taken prisoner. "Hey, I wouldn't be hanging around here if I were you. This place is gonna become a warzone any minute now."

"Wait, we can't go," one young boy protested, "what about my mommy and daddy!?"

"There's nothing you can do, they were taken across the bridge with the others," an older man sighed sadly, "these men were saying that the prisoners here will be transported directly to an Imperial labor camp in just a couple of days. The army will never breach the bridgehead in time."

"What happens to the prisoners from there?" Vine asked.

"Any who are physically able will be sent to one of the mining camps the Empire has in eastern Gallia. The others… the less fortunate ones will probably never leave the camp alive," the man replied, beginning to cry, "My wife and daughter were both with the first batch taken across. Why is this happening!?"

"Grr, this just keeps getting worse," Vine growled angrily. Just then, a loud explosion shook several nearby buildings. "Looks like the militia is moving in. Alright, get everyone you can out of the city, I'll see what I can do about the other prisoners."

….

"Alright, our objective is to take control of the enemy camp on this side of the bridge! Squad 7, move out!" Welkin ordered as he climbed down into the Edelweiss.

"Pfff, listen to him, barking orders like he knows anything," Rosie hissed quietly, "Well, don't expect me to get killed following some rookies orders."

"Whatever, you can just leave the three tanks to me," Largo declared confidently as he rested his massive anti-tank lance over his shoulder.

"What're you talking about?" Oscar asked, "the tanks 're done for by now. Vine was going after them. The rest of this will be easy."

"You're kiddin' right? You think that alchemist has what it takes to beat three tanks on his own? Sorry to tell you, kid, but your hero has probably been blown all over town by now," Largo replied.

"Only one way to find out," Alicia declared, "let's go!"

Alicia and Rosie led the charge of Squad 7's Scouts and Shocktroopers as they took cover behind buildings and sandbag walls that the army had set up before hand and engaged the Imperial shocktroopers who were garrisoned in the city. The Imperials seemed frantic as they tried to hold off the advancing Militia, but it proved futile when the Edelweiss rolled up along with two other militia tanks and began to open fire on the Imperial line, shattering it and causing the Imps to scatter.

"No sign yet of those tanks," Largo shouted, "I don't get it. These guys don't have a chance of holding us off without tank support!"

"I told you, the tanks aren't coming!" Oscar declared as he lined up an Imperial trooper in his sniper rifles scope and pulled the trigger, putting his target down.

"I'm starting to think he might be right," Rosina declared, "it seems strange that they'd wait this long to send in their tanks!"

"They could be luring us into a trap," Largo replied, "don't drop your guard."

"Right!" the Lancers replied.

….

On a rooftop above, an imperial sniper aimed his rifle down at Alicia's head. He fired his shot, but just as he did, Alicia moved, causing the bullet to miss her head, but cut deep into her shoulder, dropping her to the ground.

"You were lucky, but I won't miss again," he declared as he began to load another shell into his gun. Just then, a gunshot rang out and a sniper round struck the man, knocking him from the roof. Down below, a young woman with dark black hair that hung over her left eye pulled down her sniper rifle to load another shell into it, Squad 7 Sniper, Marina Wulfstan, while a female, Darcsen medic with short hair rushed to Alicia's side, Squad 7 Medic, Nadine.

"I'm alright," Alicia assured her, "it's just a scratch."

"That's fine, it'll only take a second," Nadine replied as she pulled out her vial of Ragnaid and turned it on, holding it over Alicia's shoulder, the gash on which quickly closed. "Wow, even I didn't even think it'd be that quick."

"Yeah, my wounds have always healed really quickly, ever since I was just a little girl," Alicia replied, smiling happily.

"Watch it, we've got a tank incoming!" Largo shouted as a tank suddenly rolled into view from behind a building.

"No way," Oscar gasped.

"Vine was handling the tanks, he can't be…" Emile declared.

"Sorry to break it to ya kids, but I told ya there was no way one Alchemist could take down three tanks," Largo declared, "more likely he just got himself blown to pieces. Now take cover!" he ordered as the tank turned its turret towards the Sevens. Suddenly, a flash of red light cut through the cannon of the turret which fell from the tank.

"What in the…" Largo exclaimed in surprise, but was answered as Vine suddenly jumped on top of the enemies tank and fired a blast down into it. Stepping down casually off of the vehicle, the Sevens watched as the frantic tank crew scrambled from the tank and bolted away just as the tank blew.

"Sorry about that Welkin," Vine shouted to his commanding officer as Welkin climbed out of the Edelweiss, "I handled the three on the western side, but I guess they send one of their other tanks off of the bridge. On the bright side though, that's one less then we have to deal with on the bridge head."

"So what's the situation, Vine?" Welkin asked as he hopped down and Isara poked her head out as well.

"Not good, a lot of civilians weren't successfully evacuated before the fighting started and the Imperials are taking the Darcsen ones prisoners. What's more, I scouted the bridge and there're still 8 tanks plus infantry on the thing, with relatively little cover surrounding the area. They're ready for us," Vine revealed.

"So what now?" Welkin wondered as he scratched his chin.

"I don't know, but it's not the end of the bad news," Vine continued, "in less than 48 hours, the Darcsen prisoners are going to be shipped to an Imperial camp. Once that happens, it's likely most of them will never been seen alive by another Gallian."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, some of them will likely be sent to a labor camp. They'll be the lucky ones, if you can call that lucky. I've heard the conditions in those camps are more than a little worse than what would be considered inhumane."

"What about the others?" Isara asked.

"The unlucky ones will… well let's just say that it'll be the easiest Darcsen hunt the soldiers in that camp have ever participated in," Vine declared.

"That's horrible!" Isara declared.

"Pff, horrible? So what if a few stinking Dark Hairs get killed? It's nothing to me, so why should I care?" Rosie demanded.

"What?" Vine replied angrily, "you can't be serious! Innocent people are going to be killed you ask why you should care!? How about because you're a soldier! It's your duty to protect the people of your homeland!"

"No one ever said anything about it being my duty to protect Dark Hairs," Rosie declared angrily.

"But if we don't do something, they're going to be killed," Isara pleaded as she hopped down from the Edelweiss.

"You Dark Hairs wanna go save your kind, I've got no problem with it," Rosie declared, "if you two get yourselves killed, that's just fewer Dark Hairs I have to deal with. I'm getting sick just looking at you."

"Why you little…" Vine hissed. Isara stepped between Vine and Rosie, worried about what might happen.

"We maybe Darcsens, but we're still human beings and Gallians, just like you!" Isara declared calmly.

"Just like me, huh? You're a pretty presumptuous Dark Hair. That does it, just the smell of you is making my stomach turn. Either these two leave or I do," Rosie demanded.

"Fine with me," Vine declared, "I say we'd be better off without you."

"Vine, hey calm down," Isara pleaded.

"I could care less that you don't like me, Isara, or any other Darcsen. There are hundreds of people all across Europa who feel the same way, but what I can't stand is that you'd go so far as to say you don't care if innocent people were killed just because they happen to be Darcsens. The only thing that keeps you from being worse than the Imperials is that you're not pulling the trigger!"

"Why you little…" Rosie hissed angrily.

"Vine," Isara pleaded as Vine turned and began to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Largo demanded.

"To rescue those prisoners. I don't need your help and now that I think about it, I don't want it. I've always done just fine working by myself, I see no reason to change that now," Vine replied, "I don't have time for all of this talking. Every second we wait, innocent people are getting closer to dying. I don't have time to discuss philosophy with people who simply don't care!" Vine replied.

"Vine, hold on, you can't do this alone!" Alicia shouted as Vine continued to walk.

"So what, I'd rather die than not at least try to help them! They don't have time to wait for us," Vine replied. He was calmer when he addressed Alicia, but it was obvious that Rosie's remarks still had his blood boiling.

"But if you get killed, then who'll save them?" Welkin asked calmly.

"Huh?"

"If you die, then there's no one left to save them. So you have to live then, right?"

"Oh brother, it doesn't make any difference whether he or anyone else lives or dies. The simple fact is that it ain't possible to get across that bridge in time to save 'em!" Largo shouted in disgust.

"You willing to make a bet on that, Largo?" Welkin asked.

"Come again?" Largo demanded.

"I know you don't approve of my leadership," Welkin declared, "so how does this sound for a bet. We're going to retake Vassel Bridge in time to rescue those prisoners on the other side. That gives us less than 48 hours to pull it off. If we succeed, then you all agree to follow my orders from now on."

"You're insane if you think you can pull that off," Largo declared, "so what happens when you fail?"

"In the unlikely event that we fail, then I'll step down and transfer command of Squad 7 to you, Largo," Welkin declared.

"Whoa, easy boss man. I got no problem with some good, honest optimism, but I had no intention of trying to retake the bridge in that amount of time," Vine warned, "I don't know if it can be done."

"Welkin, think about this, you can't just…" Alicia protested.

"Well in that case, Largo shouldn't have anything to worry about," Welkin declared, holding his hand out to Largo, "so do we have a deal?"

"Your funeral, Boss-man," Largo replied as he shook Welkin's hand.

"Good, now all of you had better rest up and be ready for action tomorrow. We're going to have an early morning ahead of us," Welkin ordered, "Isara, I have a favor to ask you, but first, I need to check something down by the river."

"The river?" Vine repeated, "I got a bad feeling about this."

**Ending Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)**


	8. Operation Cloudburst

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**EUROPA WAR II**

**Chapter 5**

**OPERATION CLOUDBURST**

**Opening Theme: Melissa (Fullmetal Alchemist)**

Vine sat quietly on the bank, observing the opposite shore. Welkin had been observing the river for hours, but Vine had no idea what he was looking for. Alicia and Isara had both left a couple of hours earlier to perform tasks Welkin had given them. "Good," Welkin said as he finally walked away from the river, "I gave us 48 hours, but at this rate, we might only need until morning."

"How do you figure?" Vine asked, surprised that Welkin's already seemingly impossible time table had just gotten even more impossible.

"I already founded what I was looking for, and I was honestly only giving us the second day to make sure we'd have at least two shots to get the conditions we needed," Welkin revealed, "but look at that," he ordered pointing at the river. Vine looked out and saw a bird flying low over the water.

"What about it?" Vine asked.

"That's a Gallian Blue Sparrow," Welkin revealed, "birds are incredibly in tune with nature, so much so in fact, that they can predict the weather far more efficiently then we can. That sparrow is searching for fish, because it knows it won't be able to find food in the morning for its breakfast."

"Huh?" Vine replied, "ya lost me."

"The reason it won't be able to find food in the morning is because it won't be able to see the river. It knows that there's going to be an early morning fog in the morning that's going to hide the river from view," Welkin revealed.

"I get it now," Vine realized, "if the river is covered in fog, then the Imps won't even see us coming. Good call, but it does have one problem. Sure, we can boat the soldiers across, but how're you gonna solve the tank problem. Hate to say it, but I can only do so much when it comes to handling tanks."

"I've got that under control," Welkin replied, "make sure to get plenty of rest tonight though. It's going to be an early morning."

"Great, my favorite kind," Vine sighed sarcastically.

….

The next morning, bright and early, the sevens were all gathered on the river bank. Just as Welkin had predicted, an early morning fog had rolled in, completely hiding the river from view.

"What's all this about boss-man," Largo asked grumpily, yawning loudly.

"We're about to commence with the operation," Welkin replied, "is everyone here?"

"Whoa, hold on, bud," Rosie protested, "what do you mean we're about to commence the operation? You're not really planning on taking on that bridgehead with one squad? I don't think military benefits apply to suicides."

"I didn't say anything about taking on the bridgehead, Rosie," Welkin declared, "we're gonna take on the river."

"The river? Are you crazy? How're you planning on getting a tank across this river? Sure, we might be able to float a few foot soldiers across, but without tank support, they ain't gonna be able to get much done," Largo declared.

"I'd hate to agree with the giant on this, but he's not wrong. Handling 4 tanks is about my limit, and if our information is reliable, there are a lot more than 4 tanks over there. By the way, military information is rarely reliable, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there are probably even more tanks over there then we think there are," Vine declared.

"It'll be fine," Welkin declared, "we'll have a tank, right Isara?"

"I finished the last modifications to the Edelweiss earlier this morning," Isara replied, "it should be able to last about five minutes once it goes under."

"Thanks Is," Welkin replied, "sorry for making you pull an all nighter right before a big mission."

"Tank pilot's gonna be asleep at the wheel," Vine sighed as the sleepy looking Isara elbowed him, "ow, what do you mean once it goes under, though?"

"What else," Welkin replied, "we're taking the Edelweiss through the river."

"You're crazy," Largo declared, "even if the kids modifications work, this river is deep enough for cargo ships to sail through. You take a tank to the bottom, and you'll never see it again."

"Not if we cross at the right spot," Welkin revealed, "which is right here." Welkin pointed directly behind him at some plants growing in the center of the river, "anyone know what that plant is?"

"Uhh… I failed biology in high school," Vine declared, "just tell us."

"It's called Mistlereed," Welkin revealed, "and it only grows in places where the river is extremely shallow. If we drive the tank through here, we'll be able to ford without any problem."

"You're kidding," Largo declared.

"You know this plan sounds insane, right?" Vine asked, "I like it, let's do it."

"You're kidding, right. The stinkin' Dark Hair approves, ah we really are gonna die," Rosie groaned, annoying Vine. His annoyed look, however, was soon replaced with a mischievous grin as he looked between Rosie and the river, which she was standing pretty close to.

"Whatever you're thinking, stop thinking it," Isara ordered.

"I don't know what you mean," Vine replied, "though now that Rosie mentions it, I do smell something."

"Huh? What do you mean you smell something?" Rosie replied as Vine walked over towards her.

"Yipes, Rosie, what's wrong, didn't have time to shower this morning?" Vine asked, holding his nose as he walked over next to the shocktrooper, "here let me help you with that." Before anyone could react, Vine pushed Rosie, causing her to topple back into the river. Oscar, Emille, Aisha, and Edy all burst out laughing as Isara shook her head in dismay. Welkin looked a little surprised by what had happened while Alicia looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

"Vine!" Alicia shouted, "I can't believe you just did that!"

"I can," Vine replied as Rosie burst out of the river.

"Why you little…" Rosie shouted as she charged out of the water and after Vine who scurried away as quickly as he could, "that does it! Come back here! When I catch you I'm gonna snap your neck!" By this point, most of the squad had burst out laughing.

"Welkin, aren't you going to say something!?" Alicia pleaded.

"Why? Look how much those two are boosting morale," Welkin replied, "besides, it's better they settle this here then wait until we're mid-operation, right?"

"But they're part of your squad! Shouldn't you at least try to get them under control!?" Alicia replied in a scolding tone. She was interrupted as Vine dashed past her. Rosie soon followed, bumping against Alicia as she did. Vine and Rosie both stopped cold when they heard a loud splash. They looked back to discover a very irate looking Alicia sitting in the shallow water.

"I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that that wasn't my fault," Vine declared as Rosie glared at him angrily.

"Okay, well, I think it's time to start the operation," Welkin declared, smiling nervously as Alicia crawled out of the river.

"Oh sure, now it's time to begin the operation," Alicia hissed irately, causing Welkin to laugh nervously.

"I think our C.O.s are having a lover's quarrel," Vine whispered to Emille and Oscar, who both just nodded in agreement.

….

On the opposite bank, two Imperial soldiers stood guard, watching the river.

"Man, how'd we get stuck with this job?" one of the soldiers complained, "it's not like anyone's gonna try to cross the river in this mess."

"Keep quiet and keep your eyes peeled, we have a job to do," the other soldier ordered.

"Yes sir," the first man groaned in reply as he walked back to the river. Just then, something small began to emerge from the water that looked like a radio antenna. "What is that?" He got his answer as the Edelweiss suddenly burst out of the water, bowling over the man as it did. The second man reached for his radio, but was unable to reach it as he was quickly taken out by machine gun fire from the Edelweiss. The hatch opened and Welkin poked his head out and looked around. When he was convinced the area was secure, he pulled out a flare gun and pointed it into the air.

"The Edelweiss swims just fine," he declared proudly, "fall in Sevens." He fired a flare up into the air which was visible from the other shore where the sevens were waiting in boats.

"Show time," Vine declared as the sevens began their trek across the river.

In only a few minutes, the sevens were across and the operation was ready to begin.

"Alright, everyone remember your jobs," Alicia ordered, "Largo, your team protect the boats and wait for the prisoners. The rest of us will distract the Imperials. Vine, do what you do best."

"Rescue op, got it," Vine declared, "heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work I go," he whistled as he darted off between some buildings.

"Alright, let's make sure the Imperials don't figure out that this is a rescue operation," Welkin ordered, "and let's retake the bridge! Squad 7, move out!"

….

Up on a building top, and Imperial Sniper stood, watching the town square below. He didn't notice a strong rope being wrapped around his leg until it was suddenly pulled tight. He yelped with fright as a hand reached over the edge of the roof and pulled him off of it. Fortunately, his fall was stopped by the rope tied around his leg, but his rifle wasn't so lucky as it fell ten stories to the pavement below. Vine pulled himself onto the roof, leaving the man dangling. "Sorry about that, do me a favor and just 'hang out' for a bit," Vine said waving down to the panicking sniper. "Not that funny, huh? Yeah, I know, I need some new material. Now, why don't you do me a favor and tell me where you're hiding the prisoners from the town. You tell me, and I won't let you fall on your head."

"C… center of town. They're being held in a building in the center of town," the man revealed, "please pull me up!"

"Oh fine, but only because you said please," Vine replied as he pulled the sniper back up to the roof. A minute later, Vine had left the bound and gagged sniper on the roof while he made his way towards the town center. When he arrived, he discovered a large building that had three armed guards standing in front of it.

"If I were a betting man," he whispered, "I'd wager that the prisoners are in there. Now, how do I get inside without alearting any unfriendlies that I'm here." Thinking for a second, he suddenly let a mischievous grin cross his face.

"What do you think, do we have anything to worry about?" one of the soldiers asked his two comrades.

"You kidding? Even if Gallia did make it across the bridge before our transport gets here, they're hardly gonna be trying to rescue some Dark Hairs," the second man replied.

"Hey," a fourth soldier shouted as he ran up to the group, "bad news, the Militia made it across the bridge and they're heading this way! The commander wants to see you three on the double, I'll keep watch here until you get back.

"The commander? Ah man, how'd they get across so quick?" one of the men demanded.

"We don't know, but they didn't cross the bridge," the 4th soldier replied.

"You two go see what's going on," the third man ordered, "I'll stay here and help keep an eye on things."

"Got it," the other two replied as they took off. When they were gone, the 4th soldier snuck behind the remaining one and struck him in the back of the neck, instantly knocking him unconscious.

Inside a room in the building, several dozen Darcsen prisoners huddled in the center of the room while five armed men stood around them.

"Now listen good, you dark hairs keep real quiet. Any of you that makes a peep won't have to worry about getting sent to Fouzen," the man declared as the door opened and another Imperial soldier walked in.

"Hey, what's going on?" another soldier ordered the man who had just entered.

"The militia's attacking. They're trying to liberate the prisoners," the soldier replied.

"After the prisoners? Fools. Well, they won't be succeeding," the first soldier declared, "execute them all."

"Yes sir," the other 4 men replied coldly as they rose their weapons. Before they could begin to fire, however, they were all knocked unconscious by flashes of red light. The 5th man looked up in dismay as a blast slammed into him, knocking him down as well. The man who had entered the room removed his helmet, to reveal that he was Vine.

"To late boys, the militia are already here," Vine declared as the prisoners slowly began to rise and look around at what had happened. "No time for gawking, we need to move," Vine ordered, "we've got boats waiting on the south side of the bridge that'll take you over to the west side of the city. We need to get to them, quickly. Now follow me and don't get separated." When he was convinced they all understood what he was telling them to do, they left the building and made their way back to Largo's group and the boats.

….

"I don't believe it, you actually pulled it off," Largo declared as the prisoners arrived at where he and a few other sevens were protecting the ships.

"What do you mean you don't believe it. When are you gonna stop doubting me?" Vine replied teasingly as he joined the lancer, "how're the others holding up."

"Good, we caught the Imps napping and the bridge team hasn't even begun to move yet. At this rate, we'll have the entire city back in Gallian hands in a couple of hours," Largo replied.

"Sounds like good news to me," Vine replied, "so, shall we join 'em?"

"Yeah," Largo declared, "I'll have a few guys go with the boats to row the prisoners to the other side."

"Got it, I'll see the rest of you on the battlefield," Vine replied as he left to join the combat.

….

The littered remains of imperial tanks and bodies told Vine quickly that Largo was right. It looked like the battle was going quite well.

"Yeesh, at this rate, maybe I don't need to join 'em. I'm probably not even gonna…" he said to himself. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a woman scream. "Oops, me and my big mouth."

In a street not far from where Vine was, Squad 7 Scout, Susie Evans, a cute young woman whose long brown hair was tied in two pony tails that hung over the front of her shoulders. Huddled with her back against a low wall as five Imperial Shocktroopers moved down the street towards her.

"Come out, princess," one of 'em taunted, "we aren't gonna hurt you, much."

"We just wanna have a little fun," another shocktrooper declared. Susie was trying desperately not to make a sound as tears poured from her eyes. The men were going to find her any second now.

"Susie!" she heard a voice shout suddenly. She looked up to see Vine charging towards her and her assailants.

"Vine!" she shouted as Vine dashed past her and roared onto the offensive against the five men.

….

At the enemy command post, Welkin and Isara stood outside the Edelweiss as Squad 7 finished securing the bridge. The operation had been a success, and best of all, it looked like the squad had suffered any serious injuries. Just then, Largo's team arrived. "Looks like we were a little late to the party," Largo declared as he joined the remaining Sevens.

"Looks that way," Rosie replied, "looks like we all got through alive, somehow."

"The alchemist was able to pull off his rescue. The Darcsen prisoners are all safely back in Gallian territory," Largo declared.

"Good for them," Rosie declared, though it was obvious she didn't care.

"Speakin' of the alchemist, where is he? He left before my group did to come here," Largo asked.

"Hey," Alicia shouted suddenly as she joined them, "have either of you seen Susie anywhere?"

"I wouldn't know. It isn't my responsibility to keep an eye on everyone," Rosie replied.

"I hope she's alright," Edy declared as she joined Alicia, "I haven't seen her for a while either, and you know how she is."

"Oh, I'm sure she's fine," a voice suddenly shouted from behind them causing them to look back. Vine was staggering towards the group, carrying an unconscious Susie on his back.

"Susie!" Alicia shouted as both she and Edy ran to help Vine.

"She'll be alright," Vine declared as he kneeled down and allowed Edy to be lifted off of his shoulders, "she just fainted from all the excitement."

"Fainted huh?" Rosie asked as Vine walked past her and she glanced over Susie, noticing that the front of her militia uniform was covered with blood. "Hey! You said she was alright, so why is she covered… with blood?" Rosie began to shout, but stuttered when she looked back at Vine, who had stopped walking and looked like he was struggling just to stand. He was standing in a small pool of blood himself. Finally, his legs strength gave out, and the alchemist fall flat on his face and lay completely still.

**Ending Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)**


	9. Reporter Blues

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**EUROPA WAR II**

**Chapter 6**

**REPORTER BLUES**

**Opening Theme: Melissa (Fullmetal Alchemist)**

Vine groaned loudly as his eyes fluttered open and he rose slowly to a sitting position. He wasn't sure where he was, but he knew he was sitting in a clean, white bed in a clean, white room, so he had to assume hospital. "Guhh, nothing like waking up in a strange room to keep things fresh and exciting," he sighed weakly as he fell back into the bed.

"You nearly get killed and the first thing you do when you wake up is crack a joke? Something is seriously wrong with you?" a female voice declared from beside him. Vine glanced in the voices direction to see that it was the blonde haired medic he'd left Emille and Oscar with when Emille had collapsed after the Sevens first mission together.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You're back at base," the medic replied, "you've been out cold for a couple of days now, but that's too be expected, I guess, considering how lucky you are just to be alive."

"Lucky, huh? What happened? I remember that we succeeded in rescuing the Darcsen prisoners, but after that, it's all blank."

"So you don't remember rescuing the Evans girl, huh?" the medic replied, "too bad. She is the daughter of one of Gallia's richest men after all, I bet you could get quite a reward from her father for saving his only daughter's life."

"Oh that's right," Vine sighed, "Susie. How is she?"

"She doesn't even have a scratch on her," the girl replied, "based on what she said before Ms. Melchiott finally came and took the sleep-deprived girl back to her dorm to sleep, you were fighting a group of men who were trying to hurt her and accidentally decided to catch a few bullets with your back, eight to be exact, by the way. She fainted at the sight of your blood and you managed to stagger back to your squad, carrying not only her, but 8 pieces of lead worth of dead weight on your back, only to finally collapse. Poor girl's still pretty shaken up over the whole ordeal, despite being assured a dozen or more times the past couple of days that you were to stubborn to die." The woman waited a moment as Vine sighed with relief before continuing to speak, "you know, I'm no expert on the subject, but if you wanna collect left over ammunition, maybe you should do it after they're stuck in a wall or something?" the woman suggested jokingly.

"Heh, where have I heard that one before?" Vine replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Back in Ishval, in order to make a little extra money for their starving families, Ishvalan children would often scavenge battlefields for bullet casings and any metal objects they could sell for a little extra cash. Some of those kids… got their hands on what they were after the hard way. I used to joke with the children I encountered like that to try to ease their spirits, let them know they were gonna be alright… but it was nothing to joke about. For every child who survived getting shot while scavenging, four more died the same way. The worst thing was, that more often than not, it was no accident," Vine replied, his face expressing a pain that the medic quickly realized wasn't being caused by his back. She wished she hadn't asked.

"Oh, uhh," she stammered, awkwardly trying to change the subject, "you're C.O. wanted to see you as soon as you woke up. I'll go get him."

"Yeah, sure," Vine replied calmly as the medic stood up to leave, but hesitated. Finally her curiousity got the best of her.

"What was it like? Ishval, I mean? I was still a little girl then, so…"

"It was Hell," Vine replied quickly, "the things I saw… the things our forces did to innocent people… they're like a recurring nightmare. One that doesn't end with the breaking dawn." Once again, the medic wished she hadn't asked.

….

Vine had closed his eyes again and was lost in thought when he heard someone enter the room again. He looked up to see it was Welkin. "Yeesh, no offense, but I was actually hoping they'd send another female nurse, ya know, since I think I kinda scared the other one silly."

"What'd you do?" Welkin asked, obviously confused.

"Uhh, nothing you need to worry about," Vine replied as he sat up and gave his commander a quick salute, "so what's the news?"

"Not a lot," Welkin replied, "surprisingly, we've been on leave the last couple of days while the regular army finishes garrisoning Vassel."

"We're leaving it to those mop heads again?" Vine groaned, "this army has a really bad habit of not learning from its past mistakes. If I have to get shot 8 more times over that bridge, I'm not gonna be a happy Darcsen/Alchemist. Not that anyone really cares."

"Oh right, speaking of those 8 bullets," Welkin replied reaching into his coat pocket, "that's actually why I wanted to see you," he replied as he pulled what looked like a necklace made of 8 pieces of metal fastened to a string, "Alicia was helping Aisha make this for you after the doctor gave her the 8 bullets they pulled out of your back. She said something about it being good luck."

"Good luck? I fail to see how 8 pieces of metal that found themselves lodged in my back can be considered lucky," Vine replied as he looked over the necklace.

"How about 8 pieces of metal that logged themselves in your back and neither killed nor permanently injured you?" Welkin replied.

"Touché."

"At any rate, we've still got a couple of days off, so you can just stay here and get some rest. I know Susie'll wanna talk to you, and maybe Alicia… will… bake you some bread," he trailed off near the end as Vine climbed out of the bed, to his feet, and began to stretch out his arms, legs, and back.

"Right, talk and bread, and man I'm hungry, please tell me it's almost lunch time," Vine replied haphazardly as he continued to stretch, "man, my body feels so stiff. Ah well, nothing a good work out can't fix."

"Uhhh, or not," Welkin replied, chuckling softly.

….

Meanwhile, in the office of Eleanor Varrot, Captain Varrot was looking over several papers, among them, an id card for a young woman with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a green cap, white, long sleeve blouse, and green pants with a camera slung over her neck.

"Well, Ms. Ellet, it looks like everything checks out," Varrot declared handing the woman back the papers, "just please remember that many areas of the base are off limits to civilians, including reporters, and I'm going to ask you not to take any photographs of any equipment."

"Right, you don't have to worry about a thing, Captain," the woman replied, smiling, "I'm just here to get an interview with some of the militia members, though I'll admit, there's one I'm particularly interested in. I'd like to speak to the commander of the Squad that was responsible for liberating Vassel less than 24 hours after the Militia's arrival in the city."

"I see, so you want to interview Squad 7 then," Varrot replied, "well the man you're looking for is Lieutenant Welkin Gunther. Finding him won't be easy though, he doesn't tend to stay in any one spot for very long, though a member of his squad was injured during the Vassel mission. As long as you don't create an problems, you're welcome to go to the medical building and ask see if he's visiting the man."

"In injury, huh? Well, that couldn't be more perfect. I can interview him and he won't be able to get away from me. Thanks for the tip," Ms. Ellet replied as she left Varrot's office.

….

A few minutes later, Ellet had arrived at the base's medical building. Approaching the blonde haired nurse, she held up her I.D. card. "Hi, Irene Ellet from GBS news. I was told there's a member of Squad 7 here, I'd like to see him if I could," she revealed as the nurse looked over the card.

"Oh, you want to see Mr. Vine," the woman replied, "I'm sorry you had to come here for nothing, but I'm afraid Mr. Vine is gone."

"He's gone?" Ellet replied, her eyes widening with surprise.

"I'm afraid so," the medic replied, "I'm sorry."

"No, it's… it's alright," Ellet replied as she turned to leave. As soon as she was gone, she reached into a pack on her hip and pulled out a microphone to a portable recorder she was carrying. "Irene Ellet report on Squad 7, I've just discovered that the militia's miraculous retaking of Vassel was not without sacrifice. One member of the squad that led the operation, a man by the name of Vine, apparently died from injuries sustained during the battle. Though this news is unfortunate, It can certainly give us some insight as to how this seemingly invincible Squad is able to handle the loss of one of its own. I'm particularly interested in the Squad's young leader, Lieutenant Welkin Gunther. I've yet to confirm it with the man himself, but my sources tell me that the man may be the son of the late Europa War I hero, General Belgen Gunther. If that's true, then it would certainly come as no surprise that in a display of military genius, the man was able to overcome incredible odds and retake Vassel bridge so quickly. I'm now proceeding to interview the remaining members of the Squad and find out their opinions on both their mysterious leader and the loss of one of their squadmates." Putting away the microphone, Ellet left behind the medical building, just as Vine and Welkin walked out into the building's entry room.

"Oh, Vine!" the medic exclaimed, "I didn't realize you were still here. There was a woman here looking for you, a Ms. Irene Ellet I think. She said she was a reporter."

"A reporter?" Vine replied, "well, I'm glad she didn't find me."

"Did she say what she wanted?" Welkin asked.

"No sir," the medic replied, "she just asked if she could see the wounded Squad 7 soldier."

"Well, I'm definitely not the wounded Squad 7 soldier she's looking for," Vine declared, "move along." As Vine and Welkin bid the medic farewell, she started to think.

"Huh, that woman seemed pretty surprised when I told her Vine was gone. Ah well, I'm sure it was nothing."

….

Meanwhile, Irene Ellet was walking around the base, trying to determine who she should interview. She finally decided on a tall, handsome man with an insignia for Squad 1 on his militia uniform, Squad 1's commanding officer and none other than Faldio Landzatt.

"Excuse me, sir," she called, catching Faldio's attention, "Irene Ellet, Reporter for GBS News. I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Me?" Faldio replied, "well, I don't see why not, I've got some time to kill."

"Thanks, now, I'd like to ask you what you know about the Commander of the 7th Squad. Tell me everything you can," Ellet demanded.

"Seventh Squad? Oh, you mean Welkin," Faldio replied.

"That's right, Lt. Gunther. Do you know him?"

"Sure I do. Welkin and I went to university together, he's a good friend of mine," Faldio replied, "he was studying biology at the same time I was studying archaeology."

"Biology? Like plants and stuff?" Irene replied, obviously a little surprised by the revelation.

"Yeah, why? Is that a problem?" Faldio asked.

"No, it's perfect. A first look at the real Welkin Gunther, the man behind the hero."

"The man behind the hero?" Faldio repeated doubtfully.

"So tell me, is it true that he's the son of the great hero, General Gunther?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure. He's definitely General Gunther's son," Faldio replied.

"Is that right? Well, he must be quite the dashing hero then," Irene assumed.

"Right, uhh, dashing hero," Faldio replied, unsure of how to respond. He didn't want to sound like he was insulting Welkin in a radio interview, but on the other hand, he wasn't sure if 'dashing hero' was an accurate description.

"Right, thanks, now, I have one more question for you. How do you, a fellow militiaman assess how Squad 7 is handling having lost one of its members during the retaking of Vassel?" Ellet questioned, causing Faldio to raise an eyebrow.

"I didn't hear that we had any casualties retaking the bridge," Faldio replied.

"Oh, then you haven't heard yet," Ellet replied, "a member of Squad 7, Vine, I think, passed away from injuries he received during the battle while recovering in the hospital."

"What!?" Faldio shouted suddenly, surprising Ellet, "there's no way! Did you just say that Vine is dead!?"

"Oh, do you know him as well?" Irene asked, "I don't suppose you can tell me a little about him, maybe where you met, stuff like that. The people'll wanna know what the man who died protecting them was like before he became a hero."

"Before he became a hero!?" Faldio barked, almost angrily at the reporter, "sorry, but I can't tell you about that, because that man has been a hero as long as I knew him."

"What do you mean?"

"I met Vine in a living Hell" Faldio replied, "five years ago, during the final year of the Ishvalan civil war, where he saved my life. My squad was patrolling an Ishvalan town when we were ambushed by rebel fighters. We were pinned down with nowhere to go. I thought for sure we were all going to die, but that was before he arrived. At first, I thought he was one of Amestris' State Alchemists, but soon, I realized he was wearing a Gallian uniform. Even so, he used alchemy to fend off all of the Ishvalans who had ambushed us. Because of him, we only suffered one major injury, but if he hadn't been there, I know I wouldn't be here now. There's no way that man is dead," Faldio declared walking away.

"Hey wait, where're you going?"

"To find out if you're right," Faldio replied without turning back. Ellet shook her head sadly and pulled out her microphone.

"I just finished interviewing the commander of Squad 1 of the militia, one Faldio Landzatt. Surprisingly, he was acquainted with Welkin Gunther before the war and has confirmed General Belgren Gunther's son. What was more surprising, however, is what he was able to tell me about the dead soldier. It turns out that this man, Vine, was a survivor of Amestris' Ishvalan civil war, where he served as a member of the Gallian task force along with Lt. Landzatt. I'm a bit curious about this man as well, now. I'll keep snooping around and see what I can find out about this man while I build up to my big interview with Welkin Gunther," she declared putting away the microphone and beginning her search for her next victim. She found it in the form of Largo Potter, standing just outside the Squad 7 hanger. "Perfect, he's even part of Lt. Gunther's squad," she said to herself as she approached the man.

….

"The boss-man?" Largo replied, "I'll be honest, I don't know how much I can tell ya about him that you don't already know. What he pulled off back at the bridge surprised me as much as it did everyone else, and that alchemist… I'll have to be more careful the next time I make a bet against those two."

"The alchemist? What does that mean?"

"Well, I guess you hadn't heard. Figures they'd keep that quiet. Darcsens, Alchemists, and Militiamen, the regular armies three least favorite things. Well, it's not my place to decide what the army decides to report and what it doesn't."

"Ah, come on, what if I ask you specifically what this alchemist did during your operation? You did agree to answer my questions," Ellet suggested.

"Well, I guess it can't hurt," Largo replied as he told Ellet the story of the rescue mission.

"Well, this alchemist sounds pretty impressive. I need to make sure I interview him while I'm here," Irene declared.

"I don't know if you'll be able too. He got hurt pretty bad during the battle. He's been out cold the last couple of days, and he wasn't showin' any signs of wakin' up last I checked," Largo revealed.

"Injured… oh no, don't tell me that Vine is the alchemist!"

"Huh? Wait, you already talked to 'im?" Largo inquired.

"This is low. The man dies selflessly in the line of duty, saving the lives of dozens of Gallian citizens, and the government doesn't even have the courtesy to tell his story to the public. That settles it, I've gotta find out more about this guy," she declared as she left in a hurry."

"Hold on, how'd she jump to the conclusion that he died during the mission? I just said he was injured," Largo sighed, "I don't get reporters."

**Ending Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)**


	10. Reporter Blues 2

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**EUROPA WAR II**

**Chapter 7**

**REPORTER BLUES II**

**Opening Theme: Melissa (Fullmetal Alchemist)**

As Irene Ellet was preparing to stir up a hornet's nest, her dead man and his commander were just leaving the base's kitchen while the dead man munched happily on an armful of about 10 apples.

"Man," Vine sighed happily as he snacked on the apples, "I'm glad the cook was willing to let me have the extra apples, cause I don't think I'd have lasted until dinner time."

"Well, you lasted this long," Welkin replied, "I'm sure another hour wouldn't have killed you."

"I'd hold off on that comment if I were you," a man declared as Faldio found them, "based on what I've heard, he's already dead."

"Faldio," Welkin said as his friend approached.

"Who's dead?" Vine asked.

"You are," Faldio replied.

"Oh, that's too bad, I'm sorry to hear that," Vine replied as he opened his mouth to take another bite, but stopped short, "okay, say that again."

"You've heard about the reporter whose on base right now, I'm guessing," Faldio replied.

"Uhh, I remember the woman at the hospital saying something about a reporter," Welkin replied.

"Right, the one who's asking questions about you. What does that have to do with me?"

"Well, apparently, someone told her that a member of Squad 7 who was injured during the Vassel operation died. Guess who," Faldio revealed.

"Ah great. Nothing like a reporter to create a little mischief," Vine sighed.

"You're telling me. You might want to do something about it," Faldio declared.

"Ah, do I have to," Vine sighed in reply, "I really don't want to talk to a reporter."

"Uh oh, that might be the least of our problems," Welkin realized, "Susie's been in pretty bad shape the last few days, feeling guilty about getting you hurt. If the reporter tells her you died because of those injuries…"

"Man, I hate reporters!" Vine shouted angrily.

….

"Alright, I've interviewed the Squad 1 commander and one member of Squad 7, but I need more. I need to find as many members of Squad 7 as I can, so I can make sure I get the whole story," Irene Ellet declared as she looked over the notes she'd gathered so far, "alright, time to get out there and find the rest of the story." It wasn't long before she stumbled upon another two members of Squad 7, the squad's second-in-command, Alicia Melchiott, and her friend, Susie Evans.

"Hey!" Ellet shouted, catching the two girls attention, "I've got some questions for you."

….

Vine, Faldio, and Welkin had separated to try and find Ellet as quickly as possible. Welkin was heading towards the Squad 7 barracks, hoping to find his squad before the reporter did. He would quickly discover that he was too late when his little sister spotted him.

"Welkin!" Isara cried as she ran up to her brother, short of breath as though she'd been running for a while.

"Isara, what's wrong?" Welkin asked.

"It's not true, right? I just heard from Alicia that…" Isara exclaimed in dismay.

"Heard from Alicia?" Welkin replied, "oh no, looks like the rumor's spreading."

"The rumor?" Isara repeated, sounding a bit more relieved, "Alicia said she heard from a reporter that Vine died from his injuries. That's not true, right?"

"No Is, Vine's fine. This is just a huge misunderstanding," Welkin replied, "we need to find the reporter and clear this up, before something bad happens."

"Uhh, we might be a little too late," Isara replied, "when I spoke to Alicia, Susie was with her, and to say that she wasn't looking very good would be an understatement."

"Oh no, she must have heard the rumor as well," Welkin declared.

"That'd be my guess," Isara replied, "she was already torn up because she feels like his injury was her fault. I'm worried about her."

"We've got to set this straight. Come on, let's go find Vine and gather the squad. With a little luck, we can find the reporter as well," Welkin ordered as he and Isara went to find the rest of their squad.

….

"Man, this is a pain in the neck. I spend I don't know how many days basically dead, and the first thing I have to do when I finally wake up is make sure people know I'm not dead? Does everyone have crazy crap like this happen to them on a daily basis, or am I just particularly blessed?" Vine mumbled as he continued his own search.

"Vine!" a familiar voice caused him to stop and he turned to see the two Bielert brothers and Aisha running towards him.

"Sorry kids, no time to chat, I'm in a bit of a hurry," Vine declared.

"You might wanna make time for this," Oscar declared.

"That's right," Emile revealed, "there's some woman from the radio who's telling everyone you're dead."

"Trust me kids, you're not telling me anything I don't know," Vine replied, "I've gotta try to set things straight before it gets out of hand."

"Too late," Oscar revealed, "we just overheard Alicia and Susie talking. Susie's really upset. She says she's going to leave the militia so she can't get anyone else hurt!"

"What!? Ah fudge, and people wonder why I hate reporters!" Vine shouted angrily, "alright, the reporter's gonna have to wait. Where're Alicia and Susie."

"Come on, we'll take you to where we saw 'em," Oscar replied as he and Emile took off to lead Vine.

"Come on, Aisha," Vine ordered as he looked down at the little girl who'd accompanied the Bielerts. He noticed for the first time that she looked like she'd been crying, though she tried to hide it from him by looking down at the ground as soon as he looked down at her.

He suddenly felt slightly guilty, after all, while he didn't regret what had happened, that didn't change the fact that his injury had started this whole mess. Kneeling down so he could hug the youngest member of his squad, he pulled her close and she quickly buried her face in his cloak as her tiny frame began to tremble.

"Hey, it's okay. Everything's gonna be fine. Come on, we need to nip this in the bud before we find ourselves with a real problem on our hands," Vine ordered as he stood up. Aisha nodded and the two quickly followed Oscar and Emile.

….

Meanwhile, Irene Ellet was once again looking over all the notes she'd gathered. She hadn't been able to find out anything personal about either of her two targets, but that wasn't too surprising since the squad was relatively young. However, what she did have was more than adequate to provide her with the story she'd been looking for.

"The dashing and cunning leader, Welkin Gunther, whose unorthodox tactics allowed the military to retake Vassel in record time, and the intelligent and selfless alchemist, Vine, who died in the line of duty protecting both his countrymen and comrades. I've definitely struck gold with this squad," she said to herself as she looked over the story she'd compiled from her interviews with the militiamen, "nothing left to do now but head back home and publish the story for all of Gallia to read."

"Actually, you're not finished quite yet," Faldio Landzatt declared from behind her, startling her.

"What do you mean I'm not finished yet?" she asked in surprise.

"Come with me, and I'll show you," Faldio replied.

….

"Susie, please, calm down," Alicia begged of her friend, who hadn't stopped shaking since they'd spoken to the reporter.

"It's my fault, Alicia," Susie stuttered, "it's all my fault. How am I supposed to live with that?"

"It wasn't your fault, Susie. It wasn't anyone's fault," Alicia tried to comfort her, "remember how many of our friends were killed back in Bruhl? I guess in war, that's just how things go."

"It's not the same," Susie cried out in reply, "he saved my life. If he hadn't then… then I'd be the one who was dead and he wouldn't have gotten hurt. He'd still be alive." Alicia felt powerless as she watched her friend cry.

"But Susie, that wouldn't have been any better," she sighed sadly, though she knew it wouldn't help. Just then, there was a knock on the door and Edy Nelson entered the room.

"We just heard from the commander. He wants the entire squad to gather in the command room," she revealed.

"Welkin? I wonder what he's going to say," Alicia wondered aloud.

"I don't know," Edy replied, "but after what's happened, I doubt it'll be a very happy meeting."

"No, probably not," Alicia replied, "come on Susie, we'd better go."

"Okay," Susie sighed sadly after a moment's pause. Standing up, she quietly followed the other two sevens out of her room.

….

Welkin and Isara stood waiting as the Sevens one by one began to arrive. It quickly became apparent by the heavy, sad atmosphere in the room that most if not all of the Sevens had heard about the rumor. Welkin quickly wished that Vine were in the room right now. Not only was he better with these kinds of situations then Welkin was, but just seeing him alive would have been more than enough to have dispelled the rumor right away.

"I hope Oscar and Emile were able to find him," Isara revealed, "if not, this is going to be a little weird."

"It'll workout alright," Welkin replied, "where's Alicia?" Just as he asked, Alicia walked in, accompanied by Edy and a very depressed looking Susie.

"She looks even worse than she did when I saw her earlier," Isara revealed to Welkin, "Welks, you've gotta say something to her."

"Me? I don't know what to say to her," Welkin declared.

"Just tell her the truth," Isara said in a scolding tone, "tell her Vine's fine and that it was just a misunderstanding."

"Okay, okay," Welkin replied timidly as he began to walk towards Susie and Alicia.

"Welkin!" Alicia exclaimed when she saw him walking towards them, "I don't understand, the doctor said he'd be fine. What happened?"

"Nothing happened, Alicia," Welkin began to protest, "Vine…"

"What do you mean nothing happened!?" Edy shouted angrily, "People don't just go from 'going to be fine' to dead for no reason, dearie."

"That's just it," Welkin tried to interject, "Vine's not…"

"Is this what war is really like? I barely even knew the guy, but still, to just have someone in your squad gone so suddenly," a squad Engineer, Homer Peron, declared.

"That's war kid," Largo declared, "better get used to it now, because I doubt it'll be the last time one of us winds up dead."

"Guys, wait a second, Vine's…" Welkin once again tried to interject.

"Welkin! What're ya callin' a meeting for now!?" an angry voice shouted as Vine burst into the room with Oscar, Emile, and Aisha, "I'm kinda busy trying to get my name taken out of the obituary in case you forgot." Almost instantly, every eye in the room was glued to the alchemist who froze. "Uhh, you look busy, I'll come back later."

"Boss-man, what were you saying just a moment ago?" Largo demanded.

"Uhh, I was trying to say Vine wasn't dead and that it was all just a big misunderstanding, but I think you already figured that out," Welkin replied.

"Wait a second, you were alive this whole time!?" Alicia shouted angrily.

"Uhhh, yes," Vine replied timidly, "and I'd like to stay that way if you don't mind."

"You jerk!" Alicia shouted angrily, "do you have any idea what you've put us all through!?"

"What? Hey, wait, it wasn't my fault!" Vine protested, "that reporter lady's to blame here. I didn't do anything!"

"That's the problem! Why didn't you tell us what was going on!?"

"Ah come on, I only just found out about myself a little while ago. What did you want me to do, use my alchemical telepathy to tell everyone I wasn't dead?"

"I don't know, it's your job to figure out those kinds of things!"

"Really, that's weird, I thought my job was to win battles, save lives, and make the regular army look like a bunch of chumps. Talk about getting demoted."

"He's certainly annoying enough to be the alchemist," Largo declared, "guess it must really be him."

"What do you mean 'guess it must really be him'!?" Vine shouted angrily, "who else was I gonna be!?"

"Don't try and change the subject!" Alicia shouted.

"Change what subject!? Ah come on, you're sad when I'm dead but mad when I'm alive. Yeesh, maybe I was better off dead!"

"Don't say that!?" Susie blurted out suddenly. Vine had been so busy bickering with Alicia, he'd forgotten about the one he'd really been worried about, "please, don't say things like that. Please…"

"Now look what you made me do," Vine whispered to Alicia, earning him a slap on the back of the head, "ow!"

"Say something to her, this is your fault," Alicia hissed quietly.

"Yeesh, why don't you blame me for the war while you're at it," Vine hissed back.

"Well, you are a Dark Hair, and everyone knows the Imps hate Dark Hairs," Rosie spoke up, having heard Vine and Alicia's conversation.

"How'd I know that was coming," Vine hissed in annoyance as he walked over to the trembling Susie, "alright, come on, Suse. I'm fine, really. It'll take more than some Imp Shocktroopers and eight bullets to put me down for the count."

"It doesn't matter," Susie replied sorrowfully, "you wouldn't have even been in this situation if it weren't for me. If I hadn't froze up back in Vassel and gotten into trouble, then…"

"Whoa, okay, time out," Vine interrupted, "you think I got shot just cause I came to save you? I got shot because I didn't get out of the way when someone pointed a gun at me; it's as simple as that. Next time, you can count I'll be getting out of the way when I'm getting shot at, but that has nothing to do with you. What happened in Vassel happened for a lot of reasons, my own carelessness being among the chief of them, but none of those reasons include saving you. Rescuing beautiful damsels in distress is just one of the job perks of being a hero."

"A 'hero' huh? I think someone's getting a little big for his britches," Rosie declared.

"Hey, if I want your opinion, I'll ask for it," Vine replied, "and if I ever ask for it, assume I've been abducted by aliens and replaced with a very poorly made clone," he whispered to Susie, earning a chuckle from the obviously still distraught girl, "hey, I got a laugh. That'd be my first victory today."

"What's wrong, alchemist, not used to having your jokes actually get a laugh," Largo asked teasingly.

"Well, to put it bluntly… no," Vine replied in a depressed tone.

"There you all are," Faldio declared as he entered the room with Ellet, "Vine, I have someone here I think you might want to meet."

"Vine?" Ellet repeated the name fearfully as she stared at the alchemist who stood in front of her, "uh oh."

"So you're the reporter who's been causing all this trouble," Vine declared angrily, "look lady, I'm no stranger to having people try to kill me, but at least have the common decency to attempt to kill me before you start telling everyone I'm dead."

"Uhhhh," the reporter stuttered, "well, so much for my golden story."

**Ending Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)**


	11. Clash in Kloden

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**EUROPA WAR II**

**Chapter 8**

**CLASH IN KLODEN**

**Opening Theme: Melissa (Fullmetal Alchemist)**

Vine leaned up against a tree trunk, looking up at what little sky he could see through the forest canopy above him.

"Man, I hate the forest. Can we hurry this up?" he moaned.

"We're waiting for orders from the regular army," Alicia replied, "with a little luck, maybe we won't have to do anything."

"Yeah right, and maybe I'll spontaneously combust, but I doubt it," Vine replied.

"Oh, you need to have a little more faith," Alicia scolded as she noticed Welkin kneeling next to a bush. "What're you doing, Welkin?"

"Oh, Alicia, hold these for me, will you?" Welkin asked as he handed her a handful of small, round objects.

"Oh, sure," Alicia replied, "uhh, what are they?"

"Uck, let me put it this way, be glad you've got your gloves on," Vine replied glancing over Alicia's shoulder.

"Why, are they some kind of berry?" Alicia asked.

"Uhhh... well..." Vine replied hesitantly.

"Oh, those're goat droppings," Welkin replied.

"Goat... Droppings?" Alicia stuttered in disgust. "EEWWW!" she shouted as she threw the droppings onto the ground, "what is wrong with you, Welkin!? You just made me hold poo!"

"Alicia," Vine hissed suddenly, "shhh." He was glaring at a nearby bush. Alicia was about to ask what was wrong, but the bush suddenly began to shake before she had to.

"What is it?" she whispered.

"Could be an enemy scout," Vine replied, "or it could be a wild animal looking for lunch. One way to find out, go take a look, Licia."

"Me!? Why don't you look!?" Alicia squealed.

"If I look, who'll watch your back?" Vine replied.

"I outrank you, right? Then can I order you to look?" she begged.

"I guess you can," Vine replied as he transmuted a combat knife from the ground and began to inch towards the bush. When he was only a couple of feet away, he charged and dove into the bush. A few minutes later, he emerged, holding up a tiny winged piglet by the back of its neck.

"What's that?" Alicia asked.

"A wild animal looking for its next meal," Vine replied in annoyance.

"It's a Porcavian Piglet," Welkin realized.

"You say Porcavian, I say breakfast," Vine replied as the piglet began to squeal wildly

"Vine! That's horrible!" Alicia shrieked.

"Huh? Ahh, come on, it was a joke... Sort of," Vine replied.

"Vine, come on," Alicia pleaded, "I bet the poor little guys mother is really worried about him."

"Uhh, that's the problem," Vine replied, surprising Alicia by suddenly becoming very serious. "Looks like the regulars and the imps had a skirmish near here. Looks like the mom got caught in the crossfire."

"That's terrible," Welkin exclaimed, "the poor thing."

"So... what do we do with it?" Vine asked, "the 'poor thing' won't last long on it's own. It'll be something else's pork by tomorrow morning."

"Doesn't mean he has to become your pork now!" Alicia protested.

"I'll take that," Isara declared as she rescued the still frantic piglet from Vine. As soon as it was in Is' arms the piglet calmed down and cuddled into Is' shawl.

"Ahh, he likes you, I," Alicia said smiling.

"Or it likes your shawl, I'm not sure which," Vine replied.

"Porcavians do like soft things, so I'll bet he likes your shawl, Is," Welkin declared.

"Either way, he's so cute," Alicia said happily.

"Yeah, yeah. Is gets a new pet... and I have to find a new breakfast," Vine grumbled.

"Oh stop whining, you weren't gonna eat the pig anyway," Alicia declared.

"Try me," Vine declared, "first rule of forest survival, if it won't poison you, it's lunch. In fact, some things that will poison you are lunch. Rattlesnake for example, tastes a lot like chicken."

"That's... disgusting," Alicia replied.

"Hey!" Largo shouted, "we just got word from the regulars. They weren't able to get to the supply base. Now it's our turn to try."

"Didn't see that coming," Vine sighed sarcastically.

"That was good timing," Welkin declared, "check this out. I found an old animal trail through the woods. If I'm not wrong, it should lead around the other side of the lake and go around the side of the supply base."

"Good call, Welks," Vine declared, "if we send some of the squad down the trail, we can hit them in a pincer and break their lines."

"Glad you think so, Vine, because I'm putting you in charge of the team who'll mount the surprise attack from the trail," Welkin declared.

"Aaand... ya ruined it," Vine replied, "why me?"

"Because I need you to use your alchemy to deal with two Sniper towers positioned at the corners of the supply base. With them around, our infantry will never get close to the base," Welkin revealed.

"But the tree cover over over the trail will allow me to get close enough to destroy both towers with blast alchemy," Vine realized, "alright, I'll need a few shocktroopers, at least on scout and one field medic, and a sniper couldn't hurt."

"Got it. Oscar, Emille, Nadine, Alicia, Edy, Aisha, and Rosie can go with you.

"Whoa, you want me to go with the Dark Hair? Yeah, that's not happening," Rosie declared firmly.

"But Rosie, you're our best Shocktrooper," Welkin replied, "and we need our best attacking from the side route."

"So Nelson and Neumann are your second choices? Not yer best call, Boss-man," Largo declared.

"I'm actually inclined to agree with Stark on this one," Vine declared.

"You are? Why's that?" Rosie demanded.

"Simple," Vine replied, "if you went, you'd only get in my way."

"Why you little... fine. Boss, you want me with the Dark Hair, I'll go with the Dark Hair. We'll see who gets in the way," Rosie replied.

"Alright, it's settled then. When your team takes out the Sniper Towers, the rest of us will mount the frontal attack from our side and we'll secure the Imperial supply base," Welkin revealed.

"Alright then," Vine replied, "let's get this done."

...

Moving along the game trail wasn't as easy as Vine had thought it would be. The same rough terrain and overgrowth that was allowing them to remain unseen was also making the trail difficult to navigate. Vine hopped onto a large tree trunk and began to scan the horizon, hoping to be able to see the towers as he waited for the others to catch up. Unfortunately, he could only just see the tops of the roofs of the towers.

"I need to get over these trees, or I can't get a clear shot," he cursed as the others began to catch up. Rosie, who was the only one not breathing hard other then Vine, quickly climbed up the trunk while the others leaned against it to rest.

"We're getting close," Vine revealed as he pointed to the tower roofs, "if only these trees were a little shorter.

"Can't you just blast through them?" Rosie demanded.

"Doubtful," Vine replied, "if I had a clear shot, we'd be about at the edge of my range. With that many obstacles, I'd have to sacrifice some range in order to give it enough power to break through. We'd give away our position and we'd likely miss our target. Need to get just a bit closer."

"Then let's go, kids. The others are still waitin' on us," Rosie declared as she jumped down off of the log.

"Who put... her in charge?" Edy gasped.

"This is a pretty rough trail," Emile groaned, "it's not easy."

"Come on, let me help you over this log and you can rest here until I destroy the towers," Vine declared, "Oscar, give me a hand," he ordered as he reached down and grabbed Alicia's hand.

...

Oscar was the last person Vine pulled over the log before he hopped down, failing to notice as a small branch snagged his glove, creating a small tear that broke his right hands transmutation circle.

"Alright, wait here. This won't be long," he ordered as he ran after Rosie.

"I'm okay, I'll come to," Alicia declared.

"Alright."

...

Rosie was kneeling next to another downed tree when Vine and Alicia caught her.

"It's about time," she hissed, "come on, you have a clear shot from here." Vine ran to where she was and saw she was right.

"Alright, stay low. I'm gonna need to take them both down simultaneously or the survivor will be able to see us pretty easily," he declared as he pointed each hand at a tower. Rosie was surprised when he lowered his hand and began to inspect his right glove.

"Shoot, when did that happen?" he cursed as he sat down next to Rosie and Alicia and reached into his cloak and removed his right glove.

"What're you doing!?" Rosie hissed as Vine pulled out his combat knife.

"My transmutation circle was broken. Must've snagged it on something in the forest. I don't have a spare and if I try to repair it, they'll see the transmutation and start shooting. Gonna have to improvise," Vine replied as he began to carve a circle into the back of his hand.

"What're you doing?" Alicia gasped.

"Improvising, there, that should do it," he declared as he rose and once again pointed his hands t the towers. Two blasts fired from his hands and simultaneously struck the towers, causing them to tumble to the ground. Within moments, a tank shell from the Edelweiss exploded into the base.

"Let's go," Vine ordered as he repaired his right glove with a quick transmutation and pulled it back on.

"Right."

...

Squad 7s sudden attack had surprised the Imperial soldiers guarding the camp and they were quickly being overwhelmed. In the camp's command center the camp commander was beginning to panic.

"We lost our snipers and the Gallians are driving us back... If we don't do something, they're going to wipe us out!"

"Captain," a voice called over his radio.

"Commander Jaeger!?" the captain exclaimed in surprise.

"Relax, Captain, it's time to abandon the base. We can't hold up against the Gallians so there's no point in losing any more of our men. Order the retreat. My men and I will hold them off while you retreat."

"Y... yes sir," the captain replied.

...

Inside the Edelweiss, Welkin and Isara were both surprised as an unfamiliar Imperial Tank rolled up to confront the Sevens.

"Alright, let's keep this tank at bay," General Radi Jaeger ordered from inside his tank, the Lupus.

**Ending Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)**


	12. Lupus vs Edelweiss

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**EUROPA WAR II**

**Chapter 9**

**EDELWEISS VS LUPUS**

**Opening Theme: Melissa (Fullmetal Alchemist)**

"What's with that tank?" Welkin wondered, "it doesn't look like any Imperial tank I've seen before." Just then, the Lupus fired a shell which exploded against the Edelweiss' armor, rattling the two Gunther siblings inside.

"Isara!" Welkin shouted.

"We're alright," Isara replied, "the Edelweiss only suffered minimal damage, but I don't know how many hits like that we can take!"

"Then return fire!" Welkin ordered, "and let's try to draw that things fire away from the others."

"Yes sir," Isara replied as the Edelweiss fired a shell of it's own at the Lupus.

"I guess the rumors I've heard about this Squad are true. They're incredibly resourceful and durable," Jaeger declared from inside his tank. "I'd better give it everything I've got if I want to fend them off long enough for the base to be cleared out."

...

While Welkin and Jaeger faced off, the camp guards stood watching. They were surprised when Rosie and Alicia suddenly burst out of the tree line, took cover behind the imps own barricades, and opened fire on the guards. Two of them were struck down instantly as the remainder scattered into cover and returned fire, just as Aisha and Edy joined Rosie and Alicia and opened fire. Another enemy soldiers dropped as a Sniper round from Marina who was hidden among the bushes of the forest found its target while Oscar and Emille began to fire from the trees as well.

"It's the militia!" one soldier shouted, "they're attacking from the forest!"

"Wipe them out! Don't let them get control of the camp!" a camp commander ordered.

"Good luck with that!" Vine shouted as he suddenly burst through the cloth wall of a command tent and knocked the commander out with a kick to his neck. "So, what're the chances you guys will just surrender before we resort to me breaking your bones?" He was answered by several Imperial soldiers pointing their guns at him. "Well, I tried."

...

"General Jaeger, we're under attack by the militia!" a frantic soldier shouted over the Lupus' radio.

"The militia? They must have been divided into two separate teams. Clever," Jaeger declared, "guess we have no choice. Focus on evacuating our non-combat personnel. Forget the supplies, we can replace those, focus on our people."

"Understood, General," the soldier replied.

...

In the camp's main Command tent, a young Imperial Private stood awaiting orders from his commander.

"Oswald," the commander declared causing the young man to nervously salute.

"Y... yes sir! Private Johann Oswald reporting for duty, sir!" the youth replied.

"Relax, son," the older commander ordered, "we just received General Jaeger's orders. The Gallians can have the supplies. We need to evacuate all of our medical and mechanical personnel. You're going to escort them through the forest back to our main fortress in Ghirlendio."

"But sir, we've got so many supplies at the base! Shouldn't we try to..." Johann began to ask.

"We've got Gallian soldiers already in the camp who snuck through the forest. If we waste time gathering the supplies, not only will they get all of our supplies anyway, but our men and women will all be spending the remainder of the war in a Gallian dungeon. If we evacuate now, at least our non-combat personnel will have a chance to escape."

"Yes sir!" Johann declared as he saluted again and ran out of the tent.

"I hope they can get away, but Gallia definitely has a knife to our throat here. We may already be doomed," the Commander cursed after Johann had left.

...

"Everyone, hurry!" Johann ordered as the camps five medics and two technicians followed him, "we need to get out of here before the Gallians find us!"

As he turned to run, he was surprised as an Imperial soldier tore through the back fabric of a tent and fell on his back, seeming to be dead. His surprise turned to terror as a man with dark hair wearing a Gallian uniform under a red cloak emerged through the tear.

"I told you that was a bad idea," Vine declared, "you should have just put down your weapon and I wouldn't have hurt you." As he spoke, he noticed the Imperial personnel who were trying to escape.

"Oh no... he's with the Gallian militia," Johann stuttered, "we're toast."

"Huh? These guys don't look like soldiers. They must be the camps medical staff," Vine realized.

"I'll have to fight him. He's only one guy, so I'm sure I can kill him before he gets us... I hope," Johann stuttered quietly.

"Huh, eh, whatever," Vine said as he began to walk back through the tent.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going!?" Johann demanded angrily.

"Huh? I'm going back to regroup with my squad," Vine replied.

"But what about us!?" Johann shouted, "we're Imperials! Aren't you going to kill us, or at least try to capture us!?"

"Huh? Why would I do that?" Vine asked, "I don't like to hurt girls if I can help it and you just look like a bunch of nurses and field medics trying to reach safety. I've got no quarrel with you."

"Huh!?" Johann replied, stupefied by the response.

"Oh, if you keep going this way, you'll run right into the middle of the fighting. You may want to go out the back and circle around," Vine ordered as he left.

"Uhh... I wasn't expecting that," Johann declared.

"Hey, this soldier is only knocked out!" a nurse shouted, "help me!"

...

As their tank battle continued, both Lupus and Edelweiss had suffered a considerable amount of damage. The desperate Lupus fired off another shell which struck the Edelweiss' tread guard.

"Welks, he hit one of our treads!" Isara exclaimed, "we've suffered critical damage... we can't move!"

"What!?" Welkin exclaimed in dismay.

"Well, looks like I scored a lucky shot on them," Jaeger declared as he realized the Edelweiss had been crippled, "to bad it looks like I'm going to have to settle with a draw," he said over the tanks loud speaker.

"Good call," Vine declared as he stood over the Lupus' hatch with his hand pointed down, ready to fire a blast through the Lupus hatch.

"Vine!" Welkin called happily as he climbed out of his crippled tank.

"Guess I'm beaten," Jaeger declared, "well, I did everything I could I guess. There's no shame in losing to a group like this one."

"Whatever," Vine replied, "your medical team escaped into the woods. If you move, you should be able to catch them before they get eaten. That kid you sent to protect them will probably just be an appetizer."

"What do you mean?" Jaeger asked.

"What do you mean, 'what do I mean'?" Vine replied, "some of my friends are hurt and my commander is out of commission. We're in no shape to handle prisoners or pursue escaping Imps, so if you get out now, you should be far enough away to escape before the regular army can pursue you. Of course, I'm just talking to myself. If you wanna stay here and wait to be taken prisoner, be my guest." With that, Vine hopped down of of the Lupus and made his way to the Edelweiss as Isara was climbing out of her crippled tank.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that," Jaeger declared as he ordered his men into a full retreat.

...

"How bad is it, Isara?" Alicia asked as she joined Isara who was repairing her tank.

"It's bad," Isara replied, "we're not going anywhere for a while."

"Ah I wouldn't worry about it," Largo declared, "we need some time to secure the camp anyway."

"Moink moink," the piglet grunted.

"Oh, there you are, Hans," Alicia said happily.

"Hans? Whose idea was it to name the bacon, Hans?" Largo asked.

"I did," Alicia replied as she picked up the little Porcavian, "he's going to need a name if he's going to be the squad's new pet."

"The squad's pet, huh?" Largo replied, "well, guess it's alright until the alchemist has him for breakfast."

"Speaking of Vine, where is he?" Isara asked.

"I thought he'd be here with you," Largo declared.

"I saw him over by the lake," Alicia replied, "I think he was fishing."

"Fishing when there's work to do? I don't know, the alchemist doesn't strike me as being that lazy," Largo replied.

"I wonder what he is up to," Isara admitted.

"Hans and I will go check," Alicia declared.

...

Vine was cautiously removing his right alchemy glove when Alicia found him.

"Yipe, that stings," Vine groaned as he stuck his hand into the cool lake water.

"Vine, what're you doing over here?" Alicia called to him.

"Oh, hey, Licia. Just tending to an injury," Vine replied as he pulled his hand out of the water and looked it over.

"An injury? Did you get shot again?" Alicia asked, sounding concerned.

"Huh? Oh, no, nothing that serious," Vine replied reassuringly as he held up his hand, showing Alicia that it was badly scalded.

"Yikes, that looks painful. What did you do?" Alicia asked.

"I violated the first law of Blast Alchemy. Never form a blast over bare flesh. The heat from the blast I used on those Snipers did this to me," Vine admitted.

"You'd better have a medic look at that," Alicia suggested, "wait here and I'll go get Susie."

"No need," Vine replied as he wrapped several bandages over the hand, "this isn't the first time I've hurt myself using Blast Alchemy and it won't be the last. I'm actually used to it."

"How can you get used to something like that?" Alicia asked as she continued to stare at the hand.

"Pretty easily, actually. If you subject a body part to the same kind of pain enough times, you find that the limb starts to memorize that pain and ignore it. Besides, this isn't nearly as bad as the time my master made be draw an oil circle on the palm of my hand. The heat of the blast ignited the oil on my hand. You can still see the scar if you look closely."

"Why would your master make you do something like that!?" Alicia exclaimed in horror.

"To see if I was dumb enough to do it," Vine replied, "which... I was."

"Moink moink," Hans seemed to chuckle.

"Hmm, hey, you'd better not be patronizing me, Bacon, or you'll regret it!" Vine threatened.

"Vine, his name is Hans, and you can't eat him, got it?" Alicia lectured sternly, "he's a new member of Squad 7."

"Huh?" Vine replied, "how can a pig join the militia?"

"Any Gallian can join the militia," Alicia replied, "and Hans is a Gallian, right, Hans?"

"Moioink," Hans replied.

"See, Hans agrees," Alicia declared.

"Or he disagrees. How do you know 'moioink' doesn't mean no?"

"Oh, don't over complicate it," Alicia ordered, "the point is, Hans is a squad mate now, so if you eat him, you're committing treason against the squad."

"Isn't that a little harsh?"

"What do you suggest the punishment be for eating a squad mate?"

"You know, you can just about justify any punishment when you put it that way."

"Moink moink moink," Hans chuckled.

"Watch it, runt," Vine hissed, "Alicia won't always be around to protect you."

"Don't worry, Hans. His bark is much worse then his bite... unless you're an Imperial."

"Moioink."

...

On his throne in Ghirlendio fortress, Maximillian sat fuming over Jaeger's defeat in Kloden.

"Pretty unfortunate if you ask me," Jaeger sighed, "who would have thought there would be an alchemist would be fighting for Gallia. We might not have as much of an advantage as we thought we did."

"The alchemist is a surprise, though not a surprise we weren't prepared for," Maximillian replied, "The alchemist will not prove to be a problem. In fact, I doubt he'll survive his next battle."

**Closing Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)**


End file.
